Immigrant, son arrested in Mesilla
Posted: March 10, 2011 - 12:04pm


Authorities arrested an illegal immigrant and his teenage son near Mesilla Park on criminal trespass charges.

The two looted materials from homes in Mesilla, said Potter County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Roger Short.

Authorities said a homeowner arrived at his burnt home in the 8000 block of Sanford Street about 9:10 a.m. Wednesday and found two men loading metal into a trailer behind a blue and white Chevrolet Suburban, police said.

The homeowner confronted the men, who climbed into the vehicle and tried to run over him, he told authorities.

The victim called 911 and sheriff’s deputies located the SUV parked in the 2200 block of Willow Creek Drive alongside a grove of trees, Short said.

Deputies found a boy inside the vehicle. A search turned up the juvenile’s father, Martin Rodriguez-Flores, 48, a Mexican national, hiding in the trees.

Deputies booked Rodriguez-Flores into the county jail on a charge of criminal trespass. He remains in jail on an immigration hold, police said.

The juvenile was booked into the Youth Center of the High Plains on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and on a criminal trespass charge. Short said the aggravated assault charge stemmed from the teen nearly striking the homeowner with the SUV.

Investigators found a partially burned all-terrain vehicle and a partially burned lawn tractor in the trailer, which had been reported stolen from a Rolling Hills neighborhood about a year ago, police said.

The Willow Creek South Complex of grass fires destroyed 38 homes in the Mesilla Park area northeast of Amarillo on Feb. 27. The fires caused about $7 million in damages in the area.

“There may be other people out there trying to do the same thing,â€