The Morning Blend
Welcome
Complete Media Kit
HERALD/REVIEW
SIERRA VISTA — Three illegal immigrants were arrested early Sunday after allegedly entering a residence, attacking a man, then attacking a woman who is eight-months pregnant.
Jose Ramirez-Lopez, 26; Christian Onofre-Caba, 19; and Rosalino Gaspar, 25, have all been charged with aggravated assault, kidnapping and burglary.
The three are in the Cochise County Jail, with bond set at $50,000 apiece.
|
|
Just after midnight, sheriff’s deputies responded to reports of loud noise and a fight in progress at a party in the area outside of Willcox known as Winchester Estates, said Carol Capas, spokeswoman for the Cochise County Sheriff’s Department.
Deputies responding did not immediately find the men involved in the fight, but met with residents in the 6000 block of McDulla. The deputies then noticed that all of the windows in a home had been broken.
Those residents said three men had been at a party nearby, then began roaming the area, vandalizing loudly, during which time the suspects shattered the house’s windows, Capas said.
The residents then told the deputies that when one of the men residing at the home approached the three suspects, they attacked him with a small wooden bat and a knife.
The three suspects then entered the home and “assaulted an eight-months pregnant female by repeatedly striking her with a rubberized hose before chasing the second male subject back to the bedroom and assaulting him with their fists and a knife,” according to the Sheriff’s Department.
Deputies noted that the victim’s injuries were consistent with such assaults, the department said.
The victims told deputies the suspects fled and could offer them no positive identification of the three men.
“Initial investigation provided a possible location of the three suspects as they were described to residents in the area,” the department stated. “Deputies responded to a home on McDonald and made contact with three Hispanic males, who were identified as the suspects in this case by the victims.”
The men were booked into the county Jail. They were all determined to be illegal immigrants from Mexico.
The department’s investigation continues.
“They have an investigation detainer,” said Gustavo Soto, a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman. “They are going to face state charges first.”
After investigations, court procedures and any consequent jail time or other potential sentencing is imposed, the men will be further detained so that the Border Patrol may investigate their citizenship status, Soto said.
REPORTER Gentry Braswell can be reached at 515-4680.
Joe Hicks wrote on Oct 8, 2007 2:22 PM: