Suspected illegal immigrants appear in court on identity theft, forgery charges

A handful of suspected illegal immigrants appeared in court Monday on state charges of forgery and identity theft.

Most of the cases stemmed from arrests made at Flickerwood Arena, a cattle and feed vendor in Jackson, in July, and from warrants served at a Cape Girardeau restaurant in late June.

Efrain Silvia-Cruz, 18, 2832 Whitener St., Apt. 8, who was arrested for allegedly showing false identification at a traffic stop, pleaded guilty to reduced charges of false declaration and driving while revoked. Silvia-Cruz's information was sent on to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement upon their request, according to Missouri Case.net.

The forgery charges against Manual Munoz-Alvarenga, Anselmo Cruz-Candelaria, Hector Gonzalez-Hernandez, Candido Sorto and Adalberto Baraona were all upheld and the cases bound over for circuit court Aug. 24.

All five men were arrested at Flickerwood Arena, then their place of employment, after Cape Girardeau County law enforcement received a tip that they were believed to have been working on forged documents.

The owners of Flickerwood Farms and Arena cooperated with the investigated and provided deputies with the information they needed, and ICE confirmed none of the men could prove legal entry into the U.S., indicating their identification records had been forged.

Eight other immigrants charged with forging identification records were also arraigned Monday before Cape Girardeau County Associate Circuit Judge Gary A. Kamp.

Fortino Reyes-Santiago, Alma Reyes Carmona, Norma Reyes-Carmona, Juan Garcia, Constantino Bautista-Santes and Felix Zarate-Alavez were taken into custody after a June 26 raid at Casa Mexicana, 1832 N. Kingshighway.

Catarino Ramirez Melgar and David Gerardo Moreno-Rodriguez were later arrested as a result of the same investigation.

bdicosmo@semissoruian.com

388-3635

pertinent addresses

1832 N. Kingshighway