WASHINGTON COUNTY : Task force arrest nets charge in U.S. court
Posted on Saturday, October 6, 2007
The first person arrested by Northwest Arkansas’ newly formed immigration task force was charged Friday with a federal crime.
Heriberto Gonzalez-Rodriguez, 44, was charged in U. S. District Court in Fayetteville with illegal re-entry by an aggravated felon. He’s being held without bond.
A complaint alleges Gonzalez-Rodriguez returned to the United States after being deported to Mexico in 2006.
He was arrested Sept. 24 when he went to the Washington County sheriff’s office to register as a sex offender, the complaint states.
Police learned Gonzalez-Rodriguez was convicted in 1999 of sexual abuse in Benton County Circuit Court. Court papers filed in the federal case don’t show his sentence from the state court. Gonzalez-Rodriguez was deported in August 2006.
At the time, he worked at Advanced Environmental Recycling Technologies in Springdale, court records show.
When he was arrested last month, Gonzalez-Rodriguez was working under his brother’s name at Superior Industries in Fayetteville.
He was arrested by the Immigration Criminal Apprehension Task Force, made up of specially trained officers from the Washington and Benton County sheriff’s offices and the Springdale and Rogers police departments.
Under the federal 287 (g ) program, 19 officers from four Northwest Arkansas law enforcement agencies are working with federal immigration agents to arrest and deport illegal aliens who are committing other crimes
Authorities didn’t release Gonzalez-Rodriguez’s name until Friday when he was charged in federal court.
The Washington County sheriff’s office said it was told by U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that a federal regulation prohibits state or local agencies from releasing information about federal immigration detainees who are held in state or local jails.
Sheriff’s spokesman Cpl. Jak Kimball said information can’t be released until a detainee is charged or arrested on suspicion of a crime.
In Gonzalez-Rodriguez’s case, he was held on a civil immigration violation until Friday, when he was charged with a crime.
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
