Published: April 21, 2007 05:29 pm

Disturbance call leads to illegals

From Staff Reports



PINEHURST — Police officers got more than they bargained for early Friday morning when a disturbance call turned into a stabbing among illegal immigrants from Mexico.

Shortly after 1 a.m. Friday officers from the Pinehurst, Orange and West Orange police departments converged on Sussex Manor Apartments in the 3000 block of MacArthur where Jose Antonio Cardenas, 31, an illegal immigrant, was found with multiple stab wounds.

As the result of on-site investigation, 17 other immigrants were located within three apartments and confirmed to be in the country illegally. All but one were placed in the custody of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and will be deported, according to Detective Fred Hanauer of the Pinehurst Police Department.

The final illegal immigrant, Fernando Salinas Cabrerra, 32, was arrested and transported to Orange County Jail and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

“The two men (victim and accused) are cousins,” Hanauer said.

Salinas was transported by ambulance to Memorial Hermann Baptist Hospital-Orange. He was later transported to St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont. At press time Friday evening Salinas was listed in stable condition.

If convicted of the first-degree felony Cabrerra could face 5 to 99 years in a Texas Department of Criminal Justice facility. After he has completed his time in prison, he could be deported to Mexico

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