Thread: WI: Officer arrested; citizenship questioned

Officer arrested; citizenship questioned
He is suspected of taking on identity of dead cousin years ago

By JOHN DIEDRICH
jdiedrich@journalsentinel.com
Posted: May 30, 2007

A Milwaukee police officer was arrested Wednesday by federal immigration agents on suspicion of being an illegal immigrant who assumed the identity of his dead cousin a decade ago, officials said.
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The officer, who has lived and worked under the name Jose A. Morales since he was a teenager, was arrested by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz confirmed Wednesday.

A spokeswoman from Immigration did not return a call seeking comment Wednesday night.

"When the Milwaukee Police Department was made aware of these allegations, we worked in concert with federal authorities on this investigation," Schwartz said.

Morales, 24, was suspended after his arrest, Schwartz said. He will continue to be paid, per state law.

Morales was hired five years ago as a police aide, a program that came under fire during the investigation of the beating of Frank Jude Jr. and was later overhauled.

Morales became a patrol officer in December 2004 and was most recently assigned to second shift at District 2 on the south side, Schwartz said.

The U.S. attorney's office began reviewing the case Wednesday, said Michelle Jacobs, first assistant U.S. attorney.

"The case is under consideration by our office and a decision on charging will likely be made" today, Jacobs said, adding that if Morales is charged, he would appear in federal court today.

If Morales is charged or just deported, there will likely be fallout within the criminal justice system, based on the history of other police officers who have been charged with crimes. Prosecutors typically drop any case that an accused officer is a witness in and sometimes old cases can come up for appeal, if the officer was a key witness.

Officials did not say how Morales came to the attention of federal authorities.

It is suspected that he, as a teenager, took on the identity of his dead cousin. By doing that at such a young age, he created a trail of fingerprints and other identification that ultimately allowed him to join the department, Schwartz said.

"We do everything we can during the background check when people apply to be police officers, but in this case when it has been going on so long, it would be really difficult to discover it was going on," Schwartz said.
Changes to program

Since Morales was hired, the police aide program has been overhauled after a disproportionate number of its graduates landed in trouble. Officials found some aides lied, didn't work hard and failed to be physically fit.

The program, which grooms teens to become police officers, has been restructured with stronger oversight, closer evaluation of aides, a new uniform and additional required college credit, the department said.

The background check, which is the same for aides and officers, also has been strengthened after officials found that some of the officers accused in the Jude beating had questionable backgrounds. Now, the chief plays a larger role, personally reviewing all applications.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=612927

I am glad you posted this. I have been searching for an actual article on this. I ran across this in a chat room, but was unable to verify it with an article. This is so outratgeous. And scary too!!!

Wonder how many times this has happens. never thought this country would see so much fraud.

There was a Border Patrol officer who was an illegal alien, with an anchor baby AG anything goes

Originally Posted by redpony353

I am glad you posted this. I have been searching for an actual article on this. I ran across this in a chat room, but was unable to verify it with an article. This is so outratgeous. And scary too!!!

Which brings us back full circle to the identity verification of 20 million illegals being done by our bungling idiot government for the purpose of cheap citizenship. If it took more than a decade to find this identity thief working as a cop imagine how long it would take them to figure out who the hell these people are while allowing them to live amongst us and suck us dry.

What if Dubya is an illegal?

If this man used fake documents, I wonder how many illegals will use fake documents when applying for a Z-visa?