4 accused of false ID to get hotel work (Arkansas Democrat Gazette)

4 accused of false ID to get hotel work

BY MICHELLE BRADFORD

Posted on Saturday, October 25, 2008

Four people are charged in federal court with using fraudulent identification documents to work at Embassy Suites in Rogers.

The arrests stemmed from an inspection last month at the hotel by Northwest Arkansas’ Immigration Criminal Apprehension Task Force.

Police officers working with U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement make up the task force and arrest suspected illegal aliens for prosecution and deportation. The task force also inspects work-identification records at businesses in Washington and Benton counties to make sure they aren’t hiring illegal aliens.

On Sept. 28, the task force inspected the Embassy Suites of Northwest Arkansas at 3303 Pinnacle Hills Parkway, and arrested four employees, court records state.

They include a former naval attache at the Peruvian Embassy who overstayed his visa.

Nestor Eduardo Perales-Paredes of Rogers and the others are charged in U. S. District Court in Fayetteville with providing or misusing false documents to gain employment, records state.

The others are Maria Karina Salazar-Ortega of Lowell, Nora Pineda-Rodriguez of Rogers and Evangelina Catalan-Flores of Springdale.

All four made initial court appearances this month and are being held in area jails.

Perales-Paredes overstayed a visa issued while he worked as a naval attache at the Peruvian Embassy in Washington D. C., records state.

When he retired from the embassy, he moved to Northwest Arkansas. He’s overstayed the visa by four years, records state.

David Lang, general manager of Embassy Suites in Rogers, on Friday wouldn’t discuss what Perales-Paredes or the others did at the hotel. He said the four no longer work there, and the company has a policy not to comment about legal matters. Salazar-Ortega is accused of using a counterfeit Arkansas identification card to work at the hotel, according to court records.

Evangelina Catalan-Flores is accused of using a counterfeit Social Security number. And Nora Pineda-Rodriguez is accused of using a false name and false identification.

Lang said Embassy Suites does not face any action by the task force or other agency over the inspection.