Man pleads guilty to drug charges but still ducks part of age question

The Columbus Dispatch

The Mexican man accused of operating a drug ring that supplied marijuana to tattoo-shop owner Edward Rife – whose connections with Ohio State University football players created a huge scandal last year -- pleaded guilty today to two felonies in federal court.

And perhaps just as importantly, he finally admitted that he was an adult when he committed the crimes...[Full Article]

Three men arrested in major marijuana bust
(Columbus, Ohio - January 27, 2011)

...Brothers Arnaldo Ruben Miranda, 25, and Luis Alberto Miranda, 24, along with Hector Ernesto Martinez, 36, were in the Franklin County jail tonight on felony drug-possession charges. Bail was set at $500,085 for each...

...Martinez, of 674 Wellington Blvd. on the North Side, will be turned over to immigration authorities once his criminal case is resolved, though authorities wouldn't say whether he's an illegal immigrant. Arnaldo Miranda also is wanted on a warrant out of Arizona, according to Franklin County jail records.

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Deported illegal immigrants return repeatedly
(Columbus, Ohio - December 27, 2010)

Federal agents took an illegal immigrant to Grant Medical Center in October 2009 to collect proof of his ties to a Mexican-based drug ring.

During his two-day hospital stay, Jose Aranda-Mora supplied the needed evidence - 92 balloons of heroin that he had swallowed before a traffic stop in Richland County.

Three months earlier, immigration agents had deported Mora to his homeland of Mexico. But the free ride home served as no deterrent. Since 2000, Mora has been deported four times, only to return time and again - most recently to Ohio.

A Dispatch investigation revealed that it is common for deported immigrants to return to the United States despite the threat of felony charges...

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Police seek Northland Community Council's help in stemming heroin sales
(Columbus, Ohio - October 6, 2010)

Heroin deals are going down daily in quiet Northland neighborhoods.

Residents probably barely notice a thing.

A Mexican drug cartel pushing cheap black tar heroin in the United States has hit upon a method of selling the drug that almost resembles a pizza delivery operation, according to Columbus Division of Police officers who spoke at last week's Northland Community Council meeting.

"Obviously we're up against something that's well funded, highly sophisticated," Officer Wesley R. "Wes" Hettinger told NCC members.

The cops were on hand to alert residents to what's been going on in subdivisions throughout the area that's in close proximity to state Route 161, busy Morse Road and Interstates 71 and 270.

And to ask for assistance.

"Spread the word," said Commander Larry Rod. "Get people involved. We need the community's help."

"These people are coming to your neighborhoods," Hettinger said. "They're doing their deals in your neighborhoods."

The sellers are driving nondescript cars, Toyotas or Hondas that blend in with the thousands of other foreign sedans on the streets and highways of central Ohio. The Hispanic men are neatly dressed and clean-cut, and might lead seemingly unremarkable lives in the very neighborhoods where they ply their illegal trade.

Often illegally in this country, they are paid $400 for a six-day work week by the Xalixco Cartel, which takes its name from a city in the Mexican state of Nayarit, an area that produces opium poppies from which the heroin is derived...

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Illegal aliens indicted on kidnapping and weapons charges (Columbus, Ohio - September 10, 2010)

A federal grand jury in Columbus, Ohio, indicted six illegal aliens on 14-counts alleging conspiracy, hostage taking and gun crimes for abducting a woman and her two-year old daughter in Columbus on December 14 and 15, 2009.

The suspects were captured by members of the Office of Homeland Security Investigations, the Columbus, OH, Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

"HSI will continue to work with its local and federal partners to remove dangerous illegal aliens from our communities," said Special Agent-in-Charge Brian Moskowitz. "These charges illustrate that commitment."

The federal indictment charges each of the six defendants with one count of conspiracy to commit hostage taking, hostage taking, six counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and six counts of possession of a firearm by an illegal alien...

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City To Push Immigration Reform (Columbus, Ohio - 06/19/2010)

Columbus council readies resolution calling on Congress to enact uniform national policy

Columbus is about to jump back into the immigration debate.

A month after Mayor Michael B. Coleman touched off a nationwide backlash by banning city-worker travel to Arizona, City Council members are poised to endorse immigration reforms that would both tighten U.S. borders and grant legal status to undocumented workers now in the country.

Councilwoman Charleta B. Tavares will sponsor a resolution on Monday that calls on Congress to "solve our broken immigration system" and urges federal and state lawmakers to help cities pay for the services they provide for immigrants.

"It's a message to Congress: You are responsible, and all 50 states need uniform immigration policies," Tavares said. "It should be done in a comprehensive way, not a piecemeal way."...

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Radio Station's Giveaway Angers Immigrant Groups (Columbus, Ohio - May 28, 2010)

Immigrant groups are asking a local talk-radio station to apologize for promoting a Phoenix giveaway that it launched after Columbus' mayor suspended city travel to Arizona to protest its new immigration law.

WTVN-AM (610) promoted the giveaway as a trip to Phoenix "where Americans are proud and illegals are scared."

The contest, which ended last night, was designed to capitalize on the maelstrom kicked up by Mayor Michael B. Coleman's decision, said WTVN program director Mike Elliott.

It was the most popular the station has had, he said. About 5,000 people entered the drawing for round-trip airfare to Phoenix, hotel accommodations, a "few pesos" and the opportunity to "spend a weekend chasing aliens and spending cash in the desert."...

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City Ban On Arizona Travel Stokes Immigration Debate

Mayor Michael B. Coleman has banned city workers from traveling to Arizona on government business, a decision that plunged Columbus yesterday deep into the nation's emotional debate over illegal immigration.

Coleman, who opposes a new Arizona law allowing police to demand documentation from people who they suspect are in the country illegally, has told city department heads that he will not authorize travel to the state and will review contracts with businesses based there on a case-by-case basis.

The travel ban started several weeks ago when the mayor rejected a request from the city's technology director to attend a seminar in Phoenix, Coleman spokesman Dan Williamson said.

"He agrees with those who want to send a message to the state of Arizona that this is not the American way," Williamson said.

But the decision brought swift calls for retaliation from supporters of the Arizona law, who insist the state is not targeting people based on race or ethnicity but simply reacting to a lack of federal action to enforce existing immigration laws.

News of the policy first was reported on Dispatch.com yesterday morning. By early afternoon, after conservative websites began linking to the story, a boycott against Columbus was brewing.

"I was about to book a week in Columbus so my son could attend a sports camp at OSU," wrote one reader, a resident of Virginia. "I guess I will take my money elsewhere. No summer trip to Columbus for my family."

A reader from Michigan wrote: "This settles it for me then. I will no longer stop in Columbus for my meals, fuel and hotel while traveling from Michigan. I will just go a little farther down I-70 and give my money to Zanesville."...

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Ohio Senate Votes To Toughen Law Enforcement (Columbus, Ohio - March 24, 2010)

COLUMBUS — Taking aim at undocumented foreign workers, Senate Republicans on Wednesday, March 24, voted for a pair of bills that give local police and sheriffs a greater role in enforcing federal immigration laws.

The Senate voted largely along party lines 21-11 in favor of a bill sponsored that directs the state attorney general to seek an agreement with federal officials to allow specially-trained local police and sheriffs to enforce federal immigration laws...

Former Ohio Public Safety Director Henry Guzman Unecessarily Delayed New Motor Vehicle Registration Rules, Inspector General Finds (Columbus, Ohio - February 3, 2009)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio's former public safety director blocked authorities from enforcing rules intended to crack down on fraudulent vehicle registrations, a state investigation has concluded.

Henry Guzman's "lack of action enabled a criminal element to continue to provide blatantly fraudulent and inaccurate information to register thousands of vehicles in the state of Ohio," according to a report from the Ohio Inspector General's Office...

Fingerprints May Indicate Immigration Status (Franklin, Ohio - January 27, 2010)

Franklin County law-enforcement agencies can now check offenders' fingerprints against a national database to help federal authorities find immigrants who are illegal or undocumented.

The initiative, called Secure Communities, began in Franklin and Cuyahoga counties last week and will spread to the rest of the state by 2013, said Khaalid Walls, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement...

Man Pleads Guilty, Admits Being Drunk in Wrong Way Crashes (Columbus, Ohio - January 20, 2010)

A man who hit five vehicles, injuring seven people, while driving drunk the wrong way on the south Outerbelt pleaded guilty today to three counts of aggravated vehicular assault.

Baltazar J. Altunar, who was injured so badly that a medic believed he was dead, hobbled into Franklin County Common Pleas Court with the help of a cane to admit he'd been drunk when he drove against traffic for 5 miles on I-270 on Christmas Day 2008...

Latinos Face No Fallout for Tags (Columbus, Ohio - January 18, 2010)

Local Latinos' fears that illegal immigrants would face closer police scrutiny in the wake of last month's cancellation of nearly 20,000 vehicle registrations have been unfounded.

A Dispatch analysis of Franklin County jail records found that the number of arrested Latinos transferred to federal authorities for deportation fell dramatically from an unusually high number last year...

Drug Suspect is No Kid, Judge Rules (Columbus, Ohio - January 14, 2009)

An undocumented worker awaiting trial on federal drug charges was 30 years old at the time of his arrest last year in Columbus, not a juvenile, a federal judge ruled yesterday.

Rigoberto Gomez Gomez's age became an issue after he was charged in September with drug trafficking, money laundering and operating a criminal enterprise...

Is Short Drug-Trafficking Suspect a Small Adult, or Juvenile? Judge to Decide (Columbus, Ohio - January 13, 2010)

Rigoberto Gomez Gomez is among the smallest inmates in the Franklin County jail.

Though jail records list him at 5 feet tall, a psychologist who interviewed him filed a report estimating his height at 4 feet 8 and his weight at less than 90 pounds...

Eight Men Charged in Kidnapping, Assault of Mother (Columbus, Ohio - December 24, 2009)

COLUMBUS, Ohio—A Franklin County grand jury has indicted eight men on kidnapping and assault charges after a central Ohio mother and daughter were kidnapped at gunpoint from their car...

Latinos Scramble to Ensure a Ride After Licenses Canceled (Columbus, Ohio - December 21, 2009)

The signs are popping up at Latino markets throughout Columbus.

"Necesitas ride?" one asks in a mix of English and Spanish. "I'll take you wherever you want."

For a fee, the impromptu taxi services offer transportation to undocumented immigrants who were forced to park their cars because they could not prove legal U.S. residency...

Identity Crisis (Columbus, Ohio - December 16, 2009)

More than half of the 42,000 vehicle registrations canceled by the BMV last week were in Central Ohio. By following new ID laws, however, the BMV may have stirred up a hornet’s nest of illegal immigration issues...

Courts Back BMV's Plan to Revoke Car Registrations (Columbus, Ohio - December 8, 2009)

Today will be the last "legal" day behind the wheel for tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants whose license plates are being revoked by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles...

11 Face Sham-Marriages (Columbus, Ohio - December 9, 2009)

Non-citizens sought improved immigrant status, agents say

A group of central Ohioans arranged sham marriages for Eastern European immigrants attempting to evade U.S. immigration laws, according to a federal indictment unsealed yesterday.

Agents have arrested nine people accused of taking part in the scheme. Two others remained at large last night.

The conspirators allegedly charged about $17,000 for each arranged marriage, recruiting citizens willing to take a cut to marry non-citizens, prosecutors said...