SARASOTA, Fla. -- An undocumented immigrant from El Salvador was arrested Thursday for the second time, in this case on a charge of criminal use of personal info. Sarasota Sheriff Tom Knight has called for him to be deported.
Carlos Josue Echeverria-Pena, 24, was arrested Jan. 6 on charges of burglary and battery by the Sarasota County sheriff. At the time, he provided a permanent resident card that had his name, date of birth and number. The information matched the info on his suspended learner's permit from Maryland.
Detectives, however, checked with the Department of Homeland Security and that agency verified the card was counterfeit, according to the sheriff's office.
He also had a Social Security card in the name of Josue Pena, with an unreadable seventh digit. Detectives noticed that the card had two different fonts, and then found that the number had been issued from an arrest in Hagerstown, Md.
Echeverria-Pena had bonded out on the burglary and assault charges. He is being held on $20,000 bond on the charge of criminal use of personal information.
“This is the second time our taxpayer dollars have gone toward feeding and providing medical services to an illegal alien prone to violence,” said Sheriff Tom Knight. “During Echeverria-Pena’s first arrest which by all accounts, is considered 'violent' in my book, we called on the federal government to deport him.
"Today we are still waiting on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to take a look at his criminal history that connects him to crimes around the country and for our purposes, asking that his removal is made a priority for the safety of our community.”
