illegal alien threatened to cut off fingers

[patriot]

A Texas man was arraigned today after police said he transported illegal immigrants from Texas, held five of them in a Port Chester apartment and threatened to cut off their fingers with pruning shears if they didn’t ante up more money.



John Ernest Guerrero Jr., 22, of Pearland, a 6-foot 3, 350-pound man, was arrested by seven officers after the captives escaped an attic apartment in which they were being held without food, police said. Police are seeking a second and possibly a third captor.

Two men from Brazil were found on Poningo Street Saturday afternoon, allegedly after escaping from the apartment in 123 Haseco Ave., a triplex Victorian-style building. They alleged they had been held there four or five days after being transported there by two men in a white Chevrolet after they crossed the Mexican border into Texas.

Police said the men – ages 30 and 50 – were uninjured despite not having eaten and having been involved in a fight with their captors that resulted in their escape. The struggle came, police said, after one captor held a small wire cutter to the pinky of one man Saturday and demanded $2,000 more than the $10,000 they had each paid to get into the United States.

Guerrero was charged this morning with first-degree attempted robbery, a felony, police said. He was being held on $100,000 bail and is due back in Port Chester village court Thursday. He had no prior rap sheet, police said. He had absolutely no identification on him, but claims to be a U.S. citizen, they said.

While a total of five men reportedly escaped the apartment; only two have come forward, police said.

“Given our population, it is likely this (imprisoning illegals) happens on occasion, but we don’t hear about it,” Detective Lt. Royal Monroe said.

“If someone is the victim of a crime, we don’t contact anyone (in immigration enforcement). We don’t want anyone to hesitate reporting a crime,” Chief Joseph Krzeminsky said.

Police did call in federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigators but said it was only to help find the suspects, not to pursue the victims, who have been placed with family elsewhere in the United States.

Krzeminsky said police hoped the other three alleged victims would come forward to aid in the investigation. He noted that police can help protect victims who are illegal immigrants from being deported if they assist in a criminal case.

The second man police are seeking is a Hispanic man in his early 20s, who is about about 5’ foot 6 -7” tall, weighing 175 pounds with a very short buzz cut. He may be wearing two earrings, police said. He fled in a black four-door Toyota suburban utility vehicle, police said. Police had a partial description of a possible third man.

Police said this is an ongoing investigation which may result in additional charges against Guerrero.

Anyone with information on the matter is asked to call Port Chester police at 914-939-8419. All calls will be kept confidential.