MIDDLETON, MA — For the second time in a week, the Essex County Sheriff’s Office has issued a statement refuting a U.S. Customs and Immigrations Enforcement Office media release regarding the detention of a non-U.S. resident charged with a crime.
The latest case involves a Columbian national charged with rape and indecent assault and battery, who was released from the Essex County House of Correction in February after a $1,500 bail was posted on the suspect’s behalf.
The Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston office said the man, who was living in Lynn, was charged with rape and indecent assault and battery of a minor over 14 on Jan. 29. The ERO said an immigration detainer was lodged against the suspect in Lynn District Court but that the Essex Sheriff’s Office “failed to honor the immigration detainer and released the Colombian noncitizen from state custody, despite the pending sex charges against a minor.”
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The Essex Sheriff’s Office responded that while the suspect was returned to the Essex County House of Correction following the appearance in Lynn District Court on Feb. 6, a judge in the case set a cash bail, and when that bail was posted on Feb. 17, the Essex Sheriff’s Office had no authority to continue the suspect’s detention.
The Essex Sheriff’s Office said ERO Boston was made aware of the suspect’s impending release that night.
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“In 2017, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in Commonwealth v. Lunn that Massachusetts law provides no authority for Massachusetts law enforcement to arrest and hold an individual solely on the basis of a Federal civil immigration detainer, beyond the time that the individual would otherwise be entitled to be released from state custody,” the Essex Sheriff’s Office said. “Once the individual was bailed, the Essex County Sheriff’s Department had no authority to maintain custody of the individual without violating state law.”
“We appreciate our law enforcement partners as we all strive for the same goal — to keep our communities safe,” Essex County Sherriff Kevin Coppinger said. “Public safety for all those who live, work, and/or travel through our county is and has always been our top priority.
“We not only enforce the law, but we are also mandated to operate within the law.”
The suspect was subsequently taken into custody by Boston ERO on March 28 and was served
with a superseding notice to appear before a Department of Justice immigration judge and a warrant for his arrest. ICE said the Colombian national will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.
“This unlawfully present Colombian national stands accused of a horrific crime,” said ERO Boston
Field Office Director Todd M. Lyons. “There are few crimes more disturbing than the sexual assault of a child, and no person more disturbing than one who would prey upon the most innocent members of our communities. ERO Boston will continue to prioritize public safety by
working tenaciously to arrest and remove unlawfully present child sex predators from our New England neighborhoods.”
The detention of a Guatemalan national living on the North Shore accused of multiple sex crimes, including those involving a minor, was also the subject of a dispute between the U.S. Customs and Immigrations Enforcement Office (ICE), the Massachusetts Court System and the Essex County Sherrif’s Department in recent days.
ICE officials said the man from Lynn, who was not identified by name, was charged with nine counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, rape of a child, two counts of assault and battery and intimidation of a witness.
An ICE statement said the Massachusetts Court System “refused to honor ERO Boston’s immigration detainer and ordered the release of the Guatemalan noncitizen” multiple times over the past two years. The statement said the national was subsequently arrested again on March 28 near his Lynn residence and will remain in ERO custody pending removal proceedings.
That ICE statement originally said that the Essex County Sheriff’s Department also refused to honor the immigration detainer and released him, which the Essex Sherriff’s office refuted in a statement this past weekend.
ICE officials later amended that media release to indicate the Essex County Correctional facility in Middleton “was erroneously reported to have refused the ICE detainer when in fact it was the Massachusetts Court System.”
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