A murder suspect is considered a “huge flight risk” after Maryland authorities assert he is an illegal alien.
Rockville, Maryland police say Miguel Angel Rodriguez-Gaona stabbed William Palacios and then ran to Baltimore, where he was arrested, Fox 5 reports.
Rodriguez-Gaona did not speak at his bond hearing, only listening “through a Spanish interpreter.” His bond was denied.
“The police have done a really thorough job in this,” according to Ramon Korionoff, a spokesperson for the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office. “Upon apprehension, they found a fake green card, a counterfeit social security card and also a Mexican passport.”
Prosecutors say the suspected illegal’s girlfriend was a witness to the alleged crime and they fear for her safety.
“His estranged girlfriend and the mother of his children had said that he had threatened her and said he would flee to Mexico or to his family members in California or North Carolina should he ever have to take those steps,” Korionoff says.
A spokeswoman for ICE tells the news station they are “monitoring” the case.
Meanwhile, an illegal immigrant who made headlines after he was beaten by Santa Ana, California police last year is now in custody and accused of invading several homes.
Police say Edgar Vargas was “under the influence of drugs” earlier this week when he “entered multiple homes” and yards, and “ran through homes stretching across several blocks,” the Voice of OC reports.
He “caused damage to property as well as kept some residents from leaving their house as they were in fear for their safety,” according to a police report.
Vargas reportedly mumbled to a homeowner that someone was trying to “get him.”
It apparently isn’t the feds. Instead, they’re investigating how the Santa Ana police treated him last summer.
The Voice of OC reported last October that the federal government launched a civil rights investigation after video captured police officers pummeling him.
“I can now confirm that we have an investigation open into whether Vargas’ civil rights were violated,” FBI spokeswoman, Ari Dekofsky, said at the time.
Vargas was released from immigration detention because the feds considered him a “material witness” in the investigation.
After Monday’s melee, “Vargas was charged with seven felonies, including burglary, false imprisonment, vandalism and resisting officers. He also faces two misdemeanor counts of vandalism for breaking a window and leaving his blood on walls and furniture,” according to the news outlet.
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