Thread: Philly to deport aquitted suspect. YEAH!

Phew! Just when I was about to give up on Phiily!

Posted on Sat, Jul. 23, 2005





Man cleared in rape, but is held in assault case

Omar Lezama Dela-Rosa, exonerated in Monday's subway attack, now faces possible deportation for a 1999 case in which he assaulted a police officer.

By Jacqueline Soteropoulos, Thomas J. Gibbons Jr. and Frederick Cusick

Inquirer Staff Writers


Things got better and worse yesterday for Omar Lezama Dela-Rosa, the man charged with Monday's beating and rape at SEPTA's Chinatown station.

With the introduction of new evidence, Dela-Rosa learned yesterday that all charges would be dropped and that he would be released from custody. But as family members waited for him to walk out of Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, word came that Dela-Rosa, a native of Mexico who now lives in Ambler, would instead be held in an immigration investigation.

A law-enforcement official last night said that Dela-Rosa, 33, would be held on a federal retainer in conjunction with a 1999 conviction of aggravated assault on a police officer.

Friends and family waiting in Manayunk last night for a welcome-home celebration at Zesty's restaurant, Dela-Rosa's employer, got word about 8:30 p.m. that federal authorities were taking control and that they planned to ship Dela-Rosa to their York County holding facility in preparation for deporting him.

Dela-Rosa's attorney, Daniel-Paul Alva, last night said what is happening to his client is "an American tragedy."

"This is one guy who has been wrongfully identified and now is going to be wrongfully deported. What else can happen to him except being struck by lightning in his jail cell?" Alva said.

Police now think Dela-Rosa's half-brother committed Monday's beating and rape of a 24-year-old woman at the SEPTA subway station in Chinatown.

And, legal sources say, Dela-Rosa looks almost exactly like his half-brother - who is homeless and has been using Dela-Rosa's identity for several months.

That brother, whose name was not released by police, was questioned last night by Special Victims Unit detectives. A law-enforcement source said the brother confessed to the rape.

Dela-Rosa surrendered to police Tuesday night and was initially jailed without bail on charges of rape, attempted murder and aggravated assault.

The attack, police said, occurred about 6:25 a.m., and was committed by man in his 20s who was likely homeless. But Dela-Rosa is not homeless - he lives with his wife, Emily, and their son, Antonio, in Montgomery County.

And he has been working at Zesty's as a chef for more than a year, said Tom Konidaris, who operates the restaurant on Main Street in Manayunk.

Alva said that after the 1999 conviction, Dela-Rosa went before a federal immigration judge who decided not to deport him.

Alva said that since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, federal immigration law has changed and the government is seeking to deport all aliens who have committed "violent" crimes.

Alva said that Dela-Rosa's arrest on the rape charge triggered the federal action which continues because of the prior case. He said his client will now have to hire an immigration lawyer to argue that the earlier action by the immigration judge to leave Dela-Rosa in the country is binding.

Regarding the rape case, Alva said that although his client knew he was innocent, he did not suspect that his half-brother may have been involved.

"He had no idea," Alva said. "I can only imagine he bears a remarkable resemblance to my client, and I understand he's been using my client's name for several months."

Police said the 24-year-old victim and a witness identified Dela-Rosa from a photo spread.

"Apparently it was an honest case of mistaken identity," Alva said.

Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson said yesterday police made no error.

"We didn't arrest the wrong guy," Johnson said. "The Philadelphia Police Department made an arrest based on the identification by the victim and an eyewitness.

"Detectives continued to do further investigation and took DNA and took other investigative steps and during the investigation we found out this male has a brother who looks almost identically like him," Johnson said.

District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Cathie Abookire announced: "We are going to withdraw charges on Monday morning on Omar Lezama Dela-Rosa."

On Thursday night, prosecutors and Alva asked Common Pleas Court Judge Rose Marie DeFino-Nastasi to set bail at $250,000, and the judge granted the request, Abookire said. Dela-Rosa's family posted 10 percent of that amount yesterday to gain his release.

For several hours yesterday outside Curran-Fromhold, from the afternoon into the evening, news photographers and cameramen waited for Dela-Rosa to exit the prison. But just before 9 p.m., word that Dela-Rosa would not be released filtered out, and the news vehicles started leaving.

And at Zesty's, what was supposed to be a party for Dela-Rosa turned somber in one instant.

"I feel sick," said Jami Weinstock, Dela-Rosa's mother-in-law. "He was almost free. Now they've taken him away."

Earlier in the evening, Weinstock and the others had been basking in the news of Dela Rosa's impending release. As television cameras whirred, they hung a "welcome home" sign in the restaurant's dining room. Family members planned to pop a bottle of champagne when he arrived at the party, which was supposed to begin at 6:30.

But as the evening wore on, Dela Rosa continued to be held up at Curran-Fromhold. Calls from his wife and brothers, who were there to pick him up, reported that there was some sort of delay in processing his release.

Then, at 8:30, news came that Dela Rosa wouldn't be getting out after all.

Dela-Rosa's attorney, Daniel-Paul Alva, last night said what is happening to his client is "an American tragedy."

"This is one guy who has been wrongfully identified and now is going to be wrongfully deported. What else can happen to him except being struck by lightning in his jail cell?" Alva said.

Police now think Dela-Rosa's half-brother committed Monday's beating and rape of a 24-year-old woman at the SEPTA subway station in Chinatown.

"American Tragedy"....oh yeah.....you got that right Lawya and you need to advise your client, the whole family for that matter, to high-tail it back to their homeland and avoid all this illegal stuff causng them all this tragedy.

The "Real American Tragedy" is the 24 year old woman that was beat and raped; the fact that one of them is still in the country after assaulting a police officer in 1999 and the whole family waiting in the lobby is either illegal and/or or aiding and/or abetting illegals and/or providing harbour for illegal/violent/rapist/criminals.

Wake Up Philly!! Your better than this!!

"This is one guy who has been wrongfully identified and now is going to be wrongfully deported. What else can happen to him except being struck by lightning in his jail cell?" Alva said.

How can you be "wrongly deported" if you are in this country illegally?

This is a perfect example of "ironies and opposites" to brainwash the American Public about who is who and what is what and what is right and what is wrong what is legal and what is not...with respect to illegal aliens in the United States.

Americans just need to keep their eye on the ball which is:

If you are here illegally now, then the you will be deported. Legalization of the illegal to avoid deportation must never happen. Legalization of uncontrolled migrants through CAFTA and FTAA must never happen. Releasing an illegal must never happen. Finding illegals and not doing anything must stop. Finding the illegal child of an illegal and not deporting them all must stop.

The system and laws are there. We just need to diligently enforce them and when an illegal is discovered, deport them, period.

Judy,

I am glad you also see the irony of this muti-faceted tragedy (thus my sarcastic title/intro)!

Every victim of a crime commited by an illegal alien is a crime that could have (SHOULD HAVE!) been prevented were our immigation laws strickly enforced. How many lives must be lost or irrepairably altered at the hands of folks with no legal right to be here?

If you look at the back story though, the irony is even more blantantly obvious.

The illegal alien cleared of the rape, was convicted of assulting an officer in 1996...yet was still here! Not only here, but he has been working for an employer that hired him illegally. The illegal employer, who knows (from past experience?) that the likelyhood of being prosecuted for HIS crime is nil, goes on public record defending the man that works for him 10a-10p, 6 days a week (at what, 200.00, 250.00 a week?) How many other illegals work there one wonders?

The guilty half brother, who is also here illegally, was less inclined to work (POP goes THAT theory!) and survived off the charity of U.S. citizens.

Finally, what about the extended family of BOTH men? The authorities that investigated this regionally high profile case must have surely established that the majority of them are here illegally. Where are their one-way tickets?

Exactly Greyparrot!! This "family" is a ring of illegal networking and racketeering. Manyunk is now a very high end expensive place to live. Like a little Rodeo Drive. No poor people can afford to live there. This is a work by day and run drugs by night crowd. There is no other way they could live in Manyunk, Pennsylvania, one of the hottest upper end spots of Philadelphia. If the half-brother hadn't raped a woman in CHINATOWN in another ring's terrority, we wouldn't know anything about it and no one would have done a thing. My guess is the half-brother will skate as well. There is no way the illegal working in a restaurant in Manyunk could escape the eyes of the Philadelphia Police Department all those years. That is just not possible. There was no illegal alien problem in Phillly in 1999....they would have stood out like sore thumbs in Manyunk and everywhere else in Philadephia.

You are all insane. The man in question was exonerated in 1999 of all charges and granted perm status. He has committed no crime. He lives in Ambler PA, not Philadelphia's Manayunk neighborhood. (Although he could afford it - Manayunk is diverse enough and has a middle class section.) He has an American wife, an American child and a good job. Sous-chef's get paid well. He is exactly the WRONG person that should be deported. Deport his murdering sob brother, but leave this poor guy alone.

Judy:

Exactly Greyparrot!! This "family" is a ring of illegal networking and racketeering. Manyunk is now a very high end expensive place to live. Like a little Rodeo Drive. No poor people can afford to live there. This is a work by day and run drugs by night crowd. There is no other way they could live in Manyunk, Pennsylvania, one of the hottest upper end spots of Philadelphia. If the half-brother hadn't raped a woman in CHINATOWN in another ring's terrority, we wouldn't know anything about it and no one would have done a thing. My guess is the half-brother will skate as well. There is no way the illegal working in a restaurant in Manyunk could escape the eyes of the Philadelphia Police Department all those years. That is just not possible. There was no illegal alien problem in Phillly in 1999....they would have stood out like sore thumbs in Manyunk and everywhere else in Philadephia.
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(MODERATOR EDIT. OBEY THE RULES OR YOU ARE OUT)

JohnnyBlaster...then you need to phone in the error to the reporter that printed the story that de la Rosa was CONVICTED OF ASSAULTING A POLICE OFFICER and then an Immigration Judge let him stay in the country.

Would the half-brother be in the United States if he wasn't here?

Would a woman have been raped, assaulted and nearly murderd by the half-brother here illegally if the other half-brother hadn't violated our US Immigration Laws and entered illegally?

The article says he's only been a Chef for a Year at this restaurant. And if I came on a little strong, I apologize. But, Ambler is an expensive community now too. Americans are not insane JohnnyBlaster.

Americans are much more worried about the woman who was raped, assaulted and nearly murdered as a result of illegal immigration than the "immigration status" or potential deportation of an individual that should not be in the United States to begin with.

Yes, the "SOB Brother" needs to be deported, but now even he won't be. Instead he'll stand trial for rape, attempted murder, and assault and American Citizens will be paying the huge cost of his incarceration; his attorney fees if he uses a Public Defender; and worrying about this person for the next 15 to 30 years if not the rest of his life.

Their is a chain reaction to illegal immigration. One comes; sneaks through the system; another relative comes; sneaks through the system; and another and another and another.

If there are factual inaccuracies in the article concerning dela Rosa's conviction for assaulting police officer, then you should contact the author of the article and have this corrected.

You are all insane. The man in question was exonerated in 1999 of all charges and granted perm status.

.

Nowhere in ANY any of the three Philadelphia Inquirer articles does it say Omar Lezama De La Rosa was EVER granted permenant status! Can you provide a link to prove this fact?

He has an American wife, an American child and a good job.

Again, according to the feds, he is here illegally thus his "good job" is an illegal job.

While his wife my be American (will take your word for it) De La Rosa was just the the first of all his six siblings to illegally cross our border.

Quote from todays (7/26) Philadelphia Inquirer - http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news ... 232040.htm

Lezama De La Rosa, the oldest of seven children, had been forced to leave school early and get a job to support his family.

"He had no choice," Raul Lezama De La Rosa said of his brother. "He had to take care of me and my younger brothers and sister."

He came to New York in 1988, and when he couldn't find a job there moved to Philadelphia. He spoke no English, his wife said. He would walk to Broad Street and would board any bus that seemed to be going in the direction he was headed. Any money he made he would send home to his family in Mexico.

Raul Lezama De La Rosa said he joined his brother in Philadelphia in 1989, and they lived in a small apartment, working 12-hour shifts in various restaurants to make ends meet.

"Sometimes, we didn't even have a break," Raul Lezama De La Rosa said. "We were just working, trying to survive."

Over the next decade, the two brothers managed to bring all their siblings to the United States, said Nicole Lezama, Omar's sister-in-law. "Finally, they were all together," she said.