Illegal Aliens Caught

Compiled by Staff

Apr 10, 2007

WHEELING — A total of eight immigrants have been arrested over the past two days for suspicion of being in the United States illegally.

The driver of a 1999 silver Chevrolet truck, Jaime Cruz, 49, was arrested Tuesday in Ohio County, along with Hector Lucio, 33, Evodio Vasquez, 19, and Lazaro Morales, 22, for reportedly being in the country illegally.

Ohio County Sheriff’s deputies were traveling behind the truck when they noticed the driver turn from Fort Henry Road onto Dallas Pike Road without signaling. Deputies stopped the vehicle at the intersection of Dallas Pike Road and West Alexander Road. Cruz showed deputies his North Carolina driver’s license and reportedly admitted to being in the country illegally. Two of the other passengers were only able to supply deputies with Mexican voter registration cards, while one had no form of identification.

Deputies advised dispatch to contact Immigration Customs Enforcement. An agent with ICE advised the deputies to transport the suspected illegals directly to the West Virginia Northern Regional Jail. While deputies searched the car, they came across a number of documents that suggested Morales was transporting the others so that they could work for companies. No companies were named in the report. When deputies began to question Morales, he reportedly pretended not to understand English.

Meanwhile, in Belmont County, Felipe Mayao Espino, 31, was detained along with Justo Cruz Santiago, 30; Ignacio Barqueras Rodriquez, 36; and Obispo Gonzalez, 20. Police placed the four in the Belmont County Jail at St. Clairsville after representatives of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement placed a detainer on the subjects and indicated they would take custody of the four men today.

A total of six people were observed by Bellaire Building Code Inspector Mike Clark and his assistant, Russell Burkhart, at 3228 Monroe St. in the process of doing a roofing job. When Clark and Burkhart asked them where the building permit for the project was and where the contractor’s license was for doing business in Bellaire, they found the men could speak very little English.

The Bellaire Police Department was contacted, and Officer Rusty Cunningham went to the scene and found that four of the six subjects could not produce identification. The two people who were able to produce appropriate documentation were released. All six subjects were said to be living in the Columbus area.

Cunningham requested an additional vehicle for transporting the undocumented workers to police department headquarters, and Chief Mike Kovalyk reported to the scene and transported two of them. He then immediately requested that Village Administrator Rebecca Zwack assist, as she had previously taught Spanish for 10 years at the college level and could assist Bellaire police in identifying the subjects.

ICE agents were contacted, and they interviewed the subjects on speaker phone with Zwack assisting and gathering information on the men. ICE then placed the detainer on the subjects.

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