Man allegedly conned illegal immigrants
Published: March 12, 2009 at 1:33 PMOrder reprints | Feedback

SALT LAKE CITY, March 12 (UPI) -- A 37-year-old man from Salt Lake City pretended to be an immigration agent in order to trick illegal immigrants out of their money, an agent alleges.

An unidentified Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent alleges in an affidavit that Hillmar Ivan Jerez charged illegal immigrants up to $5,000 each to help them complete the process toward legalized U.S. citizenship, The Salt Lake Tribune reported Thursday.

Jerez would meet with the immigrants at their home to complete paperwork for the process, the affidavit alleges. If those individuals later questioned why the process was taking so long, Jerez allegedly threatened them with deportation.

A woman identified in a complaint against Jerez as Z.C. has accused him of demanding she have sex with him in return for not deporting one of her children, the Tribune said.

The affidavit alleges Jerez, who reportedly identified himself as Ivan to the citizenship applicants, targeted at least five immigrants with the scheme.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/03/12/ ... 236879202/