Suspected Central American gang member is arrested in Perry Twp.
UPDATE: 11:27 AM, Friday, December 14, 2007
By Lori Monsewicz

PERRY TWP. A suspected Central American gang member was arrested on a federal deportation warrant as he worked in a Perry Township restaurant Thursday afternoon.

Rosendo Melgar-Pineda, 32, of 717 Fulton Road NW in Canton, was arrested at 2:30 p.m. at Variety’s Restaurant, 2843 Lincoln Way E, said Sgt. John Dittmore of the Canton Police Department’s Gang Task Force.

Melgar-Pineda was wanted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency on a federal warrant, and wanted by local police on warrants stemming from misdemeanor convictions of assault and resisting arrest, Stark County Court records said. Jail records said Melgar-Pineda remained in the Stark County jail, where he was held without bond this morning.

Dittmore said the task force identified him several months ago as a member of the MS-13 gang.

The El Savador-based gang, MS-13 is listed on the FBI’s Web site at www.fbi.gov as “the extremely violent, fast-spreading street gang that has tentacles in more than 40 U.S. states and 10 different nations across two continents.â€