Sheriff's office mistake on paperwork allows illegal immigrant, criminal to stay in U

Sheriff's office mistake on paperwork allows illegal immigrant, criminal to stay in U.S.

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By: FOX 13 News staff
POSTED: APR 18 2018 04:55PM EDT
UPDATED: APR 18 2018 11:04PM EDT

LAKELAND (FOX 13) - Polk County’s sheriff turned up the heat on ICE Wednesday after an illegal immigrant allegedly assaulted a Lake Wales police officer, but now it appears his own agency may, in fact, be at fault.

Sheriff Grady Judd questioned why the man, Marcelino Jimenez-Cruz, was still in the country, citing a 2017 arrest and subsequent report to ICE.

Judd addressed the media Wednesday, saying ICE didn’t do its job, blaming the agency for the beating of a young Lake Wales police officer -- allegedly at Jimenez-Cruz's hands.

“There is no excuse for it, period,” said Judd. “And now he almost killed a police officer because he is here. There is no excuse for it... He needs to go."

FOX 13 contacted ICE to find out why Jimenez-Cruz is still here. A spokesman said he was not familiar with the case and would look into it.

But Wednesday evening, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said ICE was actually never told about Jimenez-Cruz due to a paperwork error back in 2017.

In a statement, Polk County Sheriff's Office representative Carrie Horstman said, "This morning, [FOX 13's] Ken Suarez interviewed Sheriff Judd on the 2017 arrest of Marcelino Jimenez-Cruz. Sheriff Judd was briefed prior to the interview, and he was told that when PCSO arrested Cruz, we informed ICE that Cruz was here illegally. We have since learned that when Cruz was arrested in 2017, a box on the arrest form was erroneously marked that Cruz was a U.S. citizen - as a result, his name was not sent to ICE at that time. We sincerely regret the error."

The incident that put Jimenez-Cruz back on law enforcement's radar happened Monday night. Lake Wales Police Officer Colt Black tried to stop Jimenez-Cruz because the light on his bicycle was out.

The sheriff's office said Jimenez-Cruz stopped but then took off on his bike. When the officer tried to cut him off, Jimenez-Cruz ran into the cruiser.

That's when the situation escalated. The officer hit Jimenez-Cruz with a stun gun but it didn’t seem to matter. Soon, investigators say Jimenez-Cruz had the officer on the ground, punching, kicking, and biting him.

A distraught eyewitness told 911, “I fear for the cop's life.”

When other officers arrived, Jimenez-Cruz was arrested. A judge denied him bond and he remains in the Polk County Jail.

The arrest in 2017 happened after Jimenez-Cruz broke the hand of a Polk County deputy who was trying to break up a domestic dispute.

His fate following this latest arrest was not immediately clear.

http://www.fox13news.com/news/local-...iff-blames-ice

"Make no mistake about it," the sheriff said. "When we mess up, we fess up and we fix up."

Author: Stan Chambers
Published: 4:29 PM EDT April 19, 2018
Updated: 8:18 PM EDT April 19, 2018

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - Sheriff Grady Judd owned an error by a former deputy that listed an illegal immigrant, currently accused of brutally assaulting a Lake Wales police officer, as an American citizen during a 2017 arrest for assaulting another deputy and choking his K-9.

Judd also apologized to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for his frustration that the agency didn't deport Marcelino Jimenez-Cruz prior to Monday's incident in Lake Wales.

"Make no mistake about it," he said. "When we mess up, we fess up and we fix up."

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Error was discovered before presser

The deputy who arrested Jimenez-Cruz in 2017 for attacking a Polk County deputy wrote "unknown city of birth" on his processing paperwork, listing him as an United States citizen instead of leaving that section blank - despite Jimenez-Cruz having Mexican identification on him.

That deputy, who Judd did not name Thursday, left the department after five years under good standing in 2017 and is eligible for rehire. The department has yet to reach him regarding the report, Judd said.

The report was entered into a jail computer system that automatically notifies ICE of foreign-born inmates, but the system did not report Jimenez-Cruz because the report listed him as an American citizen, Judd said.

"Our detention supervisors knew that at nine minutes after 11 yesterday, but they didn't report it to communications, to Carrie (Horstman, sheriff's office spokesperson) who was on call, and therefore Carrie didn't report it to me, and I reported bad information," he said. "And I was wrong. And I own it. They work for me, I'm proud fo them, I love them and it didn't come as a shock to me. We work with human beings. We have apologized profusely to ICE. And I called the chief of Lake Wales (police department) and I apologized to him 'cause had we reported him like we should have a year ago, he very well may not have been out to beat their police officer up yesterday, and we own that too."

The error was initially discovered during an unrelated meeting after the department's detention chief gave the sheriff a report in preparation for a media interview, Judd said.

"I don't think we'll ever be able to stop human error from happening again," he said. "If so, the second coming has occurred and none of us will be here that believe in the good Lord."

Judd also described the criminal justice system as "complicated" and one with a cascading series of events.

"Something as simple as one block being inappropriately filled out caused all that to occur," he said.

Still frustrated with ICE

Judd also expressed frustration that Jimenez-Cruz has been arrested at least 10 times since 2010, including four times where he was reported to ICE.

"This is a bad man," Judd said. "He needs to be out of the country and we're doing everything we can."

Judd noted that ICE takes the worst offenders first and that Jiminez-Cruz may not have been high on their radar. Prior to the 2017 arrest, Jiminez-Cruz was jailed for multiple driving offenses including driving with a suspended license.

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