Choices

A local perpetrator made an interesting comment in court on June 26. But first, a little bit about the crimes.

Evaristo Roa, age 24, a resident of Elgin’s swanky Gifford Park Historic District, was arrested because he has trouble discerning between what is his and what belongs to someone else. (Did I mention Evaristo is a Mexican citizen? I guess you can’t really blame the poor guy. Lots of people in this country don’t get the concept that the United States belongs to US, not THEM.)

So here are some of the charges against him:
4/11/2008 – Failure to appear to answer these charges:
Reckless driving
Driving on a suspended license
Possession of marijuana
Attempting to elude police
6/4/2008 – Theft from a locked car
Use of credit cards from that theft
6/6/2008 – Theft from a locked car
Use of credit cards from that theft
6/9/2008 – Theft from a truck
Use of credit cards from that theft

So, the judge at the bond call proceeds to read from her script that because Evaristo is not a citizen it is possible that he could be deported if he pleads guilty* or is found guilty of the charges.

Mr. Roa replies, “I would rather get deported. I don't want to be in jail for years.”

D’ya think, Evaristo?

(As published in the Daily Herald 6/27/08)

*- About this little disclaimer statement, I’ll just bet that the warning these judges read came about because some illegal alien perp got deported as a result of his guilty plea. Some immigration lawyer got him off because no one warned him that deportation was part of the deal for felons.