Arpaio raid on Tempe coat store nets 3 suspected illegal immigrants

by Colin Lecher - Jun. 3, 2010 08:38 PM
The Arizona Republic

Three suspected illegal immigrants were arrested at the Burlington Coat Factory in Tempe on Thursday night after a raid by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

Investigators served a search warrant on the Arizona Mills shop off Interstate 10 and U.S. 60 around 7 p.m. after receiving a tip from a manager at the store that as many as 10 workers might have been using stolen identities, officials said.


Deputies compared Social Security information with other forms of identification prior to the raid and said they knew which suspects to look for before serving the warrant.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio was at the scene and called the raid a "quick operation," adding that deputies will continue to look for the other seven suspects.

Those arrested are expected to face charges of identity theft.

Yuridia Rodriguez, 24, the wife of one of the arrested suspects, Angel Rodriguez, said her husband had been in the United States for 15 years after moving from Mexico.

Xiomara Gutierrez, a friend of the Rodriguez family, said the suspect moved there to earn money for his family.

"He's a good man, he's a good, hard worker and he's a good person," Gutierrez said.

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