Suspect in 9-year-old’s rape arrested in Mexico
(Hamilton, Ohio - March 23, 2011)

Alfredo Lopez Cruz

HAMILTON — It could be as long as a year before Alfredo Lopez Cruz is brought back to the United States to face trial for allegedly kidnapping and raping a 9-year-old Hamilton girl, Butler County Sheriff’s officials said today, March 23.

Sheriff Richard K. Jones said it could be 6 to 8 months before Cruz, who is being detained in Mexico City, is extradicted to the U.S. But if Cruz, 28, fights extradition, it could take a year or longer, Jones said.

Butler County’s most wanted suspect was apprehended in Mexico on March 18 after evading authorities for more than five years, according to sheriff’s officials.

Jones said Cruz’s identity has been proven. The man — wanted for the kidnapping and rape of a 9-year-old Hamilton girl on Father’s Day 2005 — faces a five-count indictment on rape and kidnapping charges...[Full Article]

Sheriff Among Toughest On Illegal Immigration
(Hamilton, Ohio - November 10, 2010)

HAMILTON, Ohio -- An area sheriff has been recognized as one of the nation's toughest on illegal immigrants.

Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones was ranked as America's seventh toughest immigration sheriff by Foxnews.com.

The news website conducted an informal poll of immigration experts, think tanks and law enforcement organizations to compile the rankings...

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Officials: Ohio, Arizona Share Concerns Over Illegal Immigration

COCHISE COUNTY, Ariz. — “United States citizen?” the Border Patrol agent asked, his eyes darting into the back of the car and passenger seat. He didn’t ask for identification, but accepted the answer, “Yes, sir.”

“Have a good day,” he responded.

The checkpoint was more than 50 miles north of the Mexican border on Highway 80, just south of the town of Benson in Chochise County, Ariz.

More than 1,000 miles away, Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones wants his deputies to have the power to ask the same question.

Jones and state Rep. Courtney Combs, R-Hamilton, spent several days this week touring that part of the U.S. border with Mexico where roughly half of the arrests of those trying to cross take place.

Their goal is a bill in Ohio that “mirrors” a controversial Arizona measure requiring local officers to question anyone detained in the enforcement of another law about his or her immigration status if there’s reasonable suspicion that person is in the country illegally...

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A Hard Life On The Border: Sheriff, State Rep. Visit Cochise County, Arizona

Arizona county is hotbed for illegal immigration along U.S.-Mexico boundary.

COCHISE COUNTY, Ariz. — For more than a century, people have come to this arid expanse of land seeking their fortunes. Some found it; many others discovered hardship and danger.

In the 1800s, it was prospectors seeking silver. Cochise County is the home of Tombstone, a boomtown known best for legendary lawmen and daring gunslingers.

Today, it is the scene of a stream of immigrants crossing over illegally from Mexico, with which the county shares an 82-mile border.

“Fifty percent of all the illegal immigrants that are apprehended every year are coming through southern Arizona, through the Tucson sector (which includes Cochise),” said Carol Capas, spokeswoman for the Cochise County sheriff’s office.

Some seek a better life for their families. But local Arizona authorities say many bring with them drugs and violence — a return to lawlessness.

“Violent crime has spilled over into the United States,” Capas said of the raging drug war in Mexico.

Hamilton, Ohio, is 1,786 miles away from Bisbee, the Cochise County seat. But it’s no less a hotbed of sentiment over illegal immigration.

This week, Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones and State Rep. Courtney Combs, R- Hamilton, who are advocating for immigration reform in Ohio, will see first-hand the place where dashed hopes, desperate dreams and violent ambitions cross into this country: The U.S. border...

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Man Who Got 2 Jobs Using Stolen Identity Awaits Deportation (Hamilton, Ohio - April 1, 2010)

HAMILTON — The Mexican man who held down two jobs in the Dayton area with an identity stolen from an unemployed Oklahoman is in federal custody awaiting deportation, according to federal authorities.

Jose R. Acosta, 51, was being held in the Butler County Jail “pending his removal from the U.S.,” Khaalid Walls, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement said in an email on Wednesday, March 31.

Last week, Acosta was sentenced in Warren County Common Pleas Court to three years on probation, but held for federal authorities, for using documents identifying him as Christopher Wilson, 42, of Antlers, Okla., to obtain jobs with a Springboro clockmaker and maintenance contractor for Miami Valley Hospital.

Wilson said he remained unemployed.

14 Year Old Illegal Alien To Be Tried As Adult For Rape, Robbery (Butler County, Ohio - March 23, 2010)

On Friday, in Butler County, OH, Alex Ramirez, 14, appeared before Juvenile Court Judge Ronald Craft and heard that he will be tried as an adult for the alleged rape and robbery of a 64-year-old Liberty Township woman.

The victim’s family was in court for the proceeding and testified to the deterioration of the woman’s health since the particularly violent attack. They reported that she has simply lost her will to live. Barely eating and drinking.

Her son said: “All she wants to do is sit and stare out a window.”

According to detectives with the Butler County sheriff’s office, armed with a pellet rifle, Ramirez entered his victim’s home in the early morning hours of Jan. 11. He then demanded money, beat and raped the woman, finally forcing her to drive him to an ATM...

Sheriff is Defendent (Butler County, Ohio - 01/26/2010)

BUTLER COUNTY, Ohio -- Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones faces charges in federal court that he violated a man's constitutional rights. The court will decide if the sheriff authorized his employees to detain an illegal immigrant and whether that was his right to do...

Bill Introduced to Combat Illegal Immigration (Butler County, Ohio - May 14, 2009)
Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones and Hamilton State Representative Courtney Combs announced new legislation Thursday to combat what they say are high rates of illegal immigration in Ohio...

Combs, Jones to Propose Immigration Bill (Butler County, Ohio - May 13, 2009)
State Rep. Courtney Combs and Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones plan to announce a proposed change in Ohio immigration law at a press conference set for 10 a.m. Thursday...

Sheriff's Office: Illegal Immigrant Sold Fake IDs (West Chester Township, Ohio - April 22, 2009)
WEST CHESTER TWP. — An illegal immigrant who was selling falsified identification has been arrested, according to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office...

Until We Meet Again
(April 6, 2009-Butler County, Ohio - Ohio County Sheriffs hold illegals, bill ICE)
...For all the excitement at returning to their homeland, the 120 passengers were on the plane because they were being deported after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement caught them entering or living in the United States illegally...