Posted on 05/04/2005 10:36:52 AM PDT by chris1
Murder suspect living in U.S. illegally, police say
By STEVE LIEBERMAN slieberm@thejournalnews.com THE JOURNAL NEWS
Age: 29.
Education: High school graduate from Quesada, Guatemala.
? October 2000: Entered the United States legally on a tourist visa, which allowed him to stay for six months. He overstayed the visa.
? Came to Rockland from California within the past three years.
? July 2002: Charged with misdemeanor assault in Ramapo, under the name Ronald Douglas. He was accused of beating his girlfriend.
? September 2002: Justice Court warrant issued for his arrest when he missed a court date.
? 2005: Worked steadily for another contractor before joining Coloron Painting of New Jersey a month ago.
(Original publication: May 4, 2005)
A Guatemalan citizen charged with murdering a New City mother had lived in the United States illegally since 2001, when he overstayed his six-month tourist visa, Clarkstown police said yesterday.
Detectives confirmed the identity yesterday of Ronald Douglas Herrera Castellanos, 29, accused of Friday's slaying of Mary Nagle, 42. Police received the identification information from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Herrera has been charged with first- and second-degree murder in Nagle's slaying.
Herrera entered the United States in October 2000 on a tourist visa, which allowed him to stay for six months before he would have to return to Guatemala, Detective Lt. Charles Delo of the Clarkstown police said yesterday.
The suspect's visa didn't expire until October 2010, which meant he could have returned to the United States at any time until then.
Shawn Saucier, a spokesman for U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services, said it was common for people to overstay their visas, probably accounting for a good portion of the estimated 8 million to 12 million people living illegally in the United States.
"If you can get a multi-entry visa to enter the country for six months and even ask for an extension, why would you enter the country illegally?" Saucier said. "If someone doesn't leave within six months, they are in violation of the terms of the visa."
Herrera's legal status in the United States is secondary to the slaying, Delo said.
"His legality in the country is not an issue in this case," Delo said. "Getting the suspect caught and seeing that justice is done is our concern."
Other officers found Nagle's cell phone and wallet yesterday in the woods behind Georgetown Oval, about a mile from the Nagles' Tamarac Avenue house.
During a nearly four-hour police manhunt Friday, 51 calls were made from Nagle's cell phone to her friends and family by a caller scrolling through the telephone numbers stored in the phone's memory. The caller threatened some with death and told others lurid details about raping Nagle, Delo said.
Herrera is being held in the county jail without bail. A grand jury will hear the case tomorrow for a possible indictment.
Yesterday, police again scoured the banks of Lake DeForest and the grounds along the Reservoir Drive area for a black plastic garbage bag that Herrera was seen carrying from Nagle's property.
Police said they believe the bag contained bloodstained clothes worn by the person who strangled, beat, stabbed and raped Nagle inside her house. When arrested, police said, Herrera was wearing clothes owned by Nagle's husband, Daniel, 41, a Manhattan accountant.
"We don't know if he buried the bag or threw it into the water," Delo said. "We were out on a boat about 80 feet, and the water was crystal clear. We'll go up again in the helicopter."
Nagle, the mother of two elementary school children, was home alone Friday, preparing for a tennis game with her sister, Ann Fallon.
For the past month, Herrera had worked for Coloron Painting of New Jersey. He had driven to the Nagles between 8:30 and 8:45 a.m. Friday to power-wash the Nagles' back porch.
Police said Fallon and Nagle were talking on the telephone at 8:50 a.m. when Nagle told her a worker wanted to speak with her.
Herrera is accused of entering the house through the back door and killing Nagle in her upstairs bedroom as she tried to fight him off, police said. All other doors to the house were locked, Delo said.
Coloron's owner drove up at 9:20 a.m. and when he didn't see Herrera, he power-washed the porch and left, taking the keys to the company truck in the Nagles' driveway.
When her sister didn't call back, Fallon drove to the house at 10:20 a.m. and saw Herrera outside, police said. When Fallon questioned him about her sister's whereabouts, he gave vague answers, claimed not to speak English well and left carrying a black plastic bag.
Fallon then went inside and saw a trail of blood upstairs and her sister on the bed, partially clothed with her tank top pulled up across her chest.
Nagle's slaying has had a chilling effect on the hiring of immigrant workers for landscaping, house repairs and maintenance.
Pedro Velasquez, a Guatemalan day laborer, and a number of other men said about 11:30 a.m. yesterday that they normally would have been picked up for work by contractors by about 11 a.m. They said this had been the situation since the weekend and attributed the lack of work to fear rising from Nagle's killing.
"It hurts us all," Velasquez said, standing with more than two dozen men on Spring Valley's Maple Avenue.
Leaders of the Jornaleros Project, an immigrant advocacy and assistance group, remained hopeful that Rockland residents would not turn their backs on day laborers.
The Rev. Angela Boatright of the Jornaleros Project said she hoped the tragedy would not prejudice residents against immigrant workers, though she understood the trust had been damaged.
"We regularly open our doors to workers ? handymen, painters, meter readers, food deliverers and the like ? and our trust in them is seldom violated," Boatright said.
"There is no race, class, or ethnic group that is exempt from the temptation to take a life," she said. "But for every horror committed and drilled into our memories, there also are dozens of acts of kindness. ... We must not lose our perspective. And, most of all, we must not fear each other."
Herrera, a high school graduate from Quesada, Guatemala, had worked steadily for another contractor before joining Coloron Painting, a Park Ridge, N.J.-based company that had worked for the Nagles and other Rockland families for more than 10 years.
Herrera came to Rockland from California within the past three years. In July 2002, he was charged with a misdemeanor assault in Ramapo, under the name Ronald Douglas, after he was accused of beating his girlfriend. A Justice Court warrant was issued for his arrest in September 2002 when he missed a court date.
When police arrested Herrera on Friday, his California driver's license gave the name Douglas Martin Herrera, 39.
Delo said the real Douglas Martin Herrera lived in San Francisco, and police there had spoken to him on Monday. He told police he didn't know the suspect or that his information was being used
I didn't know about Saudi women but it doesn't surprise me at all. I mean if I were from somewhere else, I would want to live here too.
As for Clinton votes, my SIL worked for a contracter that processed immigration papers. They worked lots of overtime as they were told to process as many as possible in the year leading up to his election (can't remember if it was his first or second, second I think).
susie
"Also, you don't have the slightest whiff of a clue, of what would happen to our lives if every illegal immigrant were thrown out of the country today>"
Did I say we should do that? I'd settle for shutting down the borders and deporting illegals as they surface for any major or minor offense. Save your condescension for someone who's impressed by your claim to be a "Well-Educated Economist."
>>>you don't have the slightest whiff of a clue, of what would happen to our lives if every illegal immigrant were thrown out of the country today.
Nor do you.
And for someone yawning on a thread sure is anxious to hijack it.
"Well-Educated" ???
Sure your on the right thread ??? This is about an illegal Guatemalan accused of murder.
Yours is the only post that mentions mexicans or the economy.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
>>>I didn't know about Saudi women but it doesn't surprise me at all. I mean if I were from somewhere else, I would want to live here too.
The Saudi women I was refering to just came here to have their babies, get the birth certificates and went back.
>>>>As for Clinton votes, my SIL worked for a contracter that processed immigration papers.
Can we have a do over than? No?
No.. My position is that our anger is completely misplaced in this.
Everybody wants to yell, "Throw out the Illegals."
There are two types of illegals..
#1. Those who want to come here, learn our language, and work.
#2. Dirtbag degenerates who don't want to learn our language, and abuse our social programs.
From an economic standpoint, The #1 Illegal's are a necessity to keep our economy growing on the pace it currently is.
There's only one solution to the illegal immigrants problem... CUT THE SOCIALIST WELFARE PROGRAMS!!!
You cut the Socialist Welfare Programs of the Left, you eliminate a good chunk of the #2 Illegals.
The best way to get rid of the Illegal Thugs, is to get rid of social programs that support them, and at the same time you'd be balancing our budget and strengthening our economy.
The "TOSS OUT ILLEGAL MEXICANS".. "GUARD THE BORDERS" attitude on the right is the WRONG approach to solve the problem.
The best way to guard the borders would be to remove the bait (Social Programs) that are enticing them over.
Can you go yawn on another thread?
Hmmm.....Yours seems to be the *only post* that talks about "lynching" anybody.
There are people who are willing to come here legally, if we ever control our borders!
Again, read my next post..
"Controlling Our Borders" is the wrong mentality to defeat the problem.
Removing the worm out of the way of the fish's eye is the best way. (Eliminate Social Welfare Programs).
While I agree with your social programs idea, it seems silly, still to say that whoever crosses our border can come in. A country that doesn't have a border isn't a country.
susie
US Birth Certificates.
I understand, but to what purpose (specifically) if they didn't intend to use that to anchor themselves here?
susie
This really is Bush's fault. Along with most of the rest of the politicians in this country. Oh yes, as esp. that fat ---- Teddy "the swimmer" Kennedy.
It's clear from the details in this article that our entire immigration system needs to be overhauled. How about 30 day tourist visas, good for one time use only. How about increasing penalties for crimes committed by illegals? Hopefully this guy gets death, and would get it just the same if he'd been born and raised here, but how about increasing the penalties for lesser crimes. Say, an extra 10 years, serve every single day, for any crime committed by someone not entitled to legally be in this country?
Do you have evidence that this murderer has ever received any social welfare program benefits?
I lived in Yonkers (North) for 25 years.....haven't been back since 1997......What section in Yonkers????
Well that's part of the problem.
There are economists alot smarter than myself that I hold in very high regard.
Starting with the first wave of Baby Boomers retiring in the next several years, there will not be enough productive people in this country to support the people who are not productive.
The unemployement rate are going to hit very very low levels in the next 5-10 years. It'll be impossible to not find a job! Which may sound like a good thing because low unemployement levels leads to higher wages.
But with that you are also going to see increased inflation , high interest rates to control the inflation, higher taxes to pay for the social security funding shortage, which ultimately leads to a stagnant economy.
There's only a couple options here, and a couple of which are politically impossible. Social Security checks will be rising with the rate of inflation. Without an increased in productive workers, I believe the shortfall in SS will come much sooner than the President's 2017 prediction.
We need to target productive workers and invite them into the country to work, eliminate social programs, reform social security.
Only one of these are even remotely politically feasable at the time, and that's the President's Guest Worker program, and unfortunantly we have a bunch of people on both sides of the aisle (many who frequent this forum), who fail to recognize it.
As to the other solutions (Dramatically cut the budget, Fix Social Security), The left will never let any of it happen as long as they have 40 seats in the Senate.
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