Posted on 05/11/2005 7:49:53 AM PDT by mondoman
A man suspected in the killing of a cop and the target of a massive manhunt worked with false documentation at the Cherry Cricket, a restaurant co- owned by Mayor John Hickenlooper, police said Tuesday.
Raul Garcia-Gomez, 19, an illegal immigrant, failed to show up for work Monday morning at the restaurant in the Cherry Creek retail district after the fatal shooting of police Detective Donald Young and the wounding of Detective John Bishop early Sunday morning.
Lee Driscoll, the mayor's business partner, said Tuesday that the company learned last month that Garcia-Gomez provided the restaurant with two forms of identification, but the Social Security number he provided turned out to be false.
Driscoll said Garcia-Gomez's name was on a list he receives annually from the Social Security Administration. It indicated Garcia-Gomez's information did not match its records.
"I learned this morning (Tuesday) that he worked for the restaurant when I got a call from the general manager . . . who said the police were questioning people," said Driscoll, president of the Wynkoop Brewing Co., the parent company of the mayor's restaurants.
"He worked as a dishwasher. He worked for us about 10 months. He looked like a stellar employee from what I can determine from his file."
Driscoll is among three business partners who manage Hickenlooper's trust that oversees 10 restaurants and other financial holdings.
The restaurant is owned in part by Hickenlooper, but the mayor is not involved in day-to-day operations at the Cherry Cricket.
Driscoll said neither he nor the restaurants' managers had spoken to the mayor about Garcia-Gomez's employment.
Hickenlooper said Tuesday that he learned of Garcia-Gomez's ties to the Cherry Cricket after he was briefed by his chief of staff, Michael Bennet.
"Certainly, in the restaurant business everyone is like family," he said. "It's stunning to believe someone a part of the family could commit such a heinous crime."
Hickenlooper said he will not get involved in addressing the hiring practices at the restaurants in the trust.
He said those decisions will be made by Driscoll and each establishment's general manager.
"I'm not instructing the restaurants to do anything," Hickenlooper said. "They're their own ship, running their own course. The reason I put them in trust was so that I could focus my attentions on running the city. My only interest is catching the guy and bringing him to justice."
Cherry Cricket managers told police that Garcia-Gomez presented a resident-alien card when he applied for the job, according to a police source close to the investigation. The card was handed over Monday and gave the police their first photo of the suspect - albeit an unclear one.
"You could see that this card was fake," said the police source, who added that the card was falling apart and typewritten.
Police continued to stake out the Cherry Cricket on Tuesday to see if Garcia-Gomez would be brazen enough to return for a paycheck he hadn't picked up.
Driscoll said he believed the restaurant complied with the letter of the law. It took a copy of Garcia-Gomez's Social Security card and a copy of his resident-alien card that appeared to be in order and legal. The card included his photo, fingerprint and a seal from the U.S. Department of Justice that appeared official.
Driscoll said the company is currently meeting with the management of all its restaurants to provide them with a list of workers whose information did not match Social Security's records, but had not yet met with the Cherry Cricket's management.
Employers need only check two forms of identification "that reasonably appear to be genuine," according to federal immigration rules.
U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo on Tuesday blasted the Hickenlooper administration's handling of the case.
The Littleton Republican said U.S. immigration officials should have been contacted after each of three traffic citations issued to Garcia-Gomez in Denver because police could not confirm his legal status.
"Denver's sanctuary policy prevents local law enforcement from cooperating with federal officials on immigration matters, despite federal law which explicitly prohibits such a policy," Tancredo charged in a news release.
Tancredo also questioned whether the Cherry Cricket had taken proper steps to verify Garcia-Gomez's legal status when he was hired.
Tancredo had his own brush with such questions in September 2002 when reports surfaced that some of the workers who helped on a basement remodeling project at Tancredo's home were illegal immigrants.
Tancredo maintained at the time that he simply hired a contractor and didn't have "the foggiest idea of whether the people hired by the company I hired were illegal."
Driscoll said the restaurants in Hickenlooper's trust employ more than 500 employees in an industry in which turnover is common.
"Everyone knows there's an issue of illegal aliens working a bunch of jobs in this country, and particularly in the restaurant business," he said.
"Once John decided to run for mayor, we did the research to make sure we understood the law clearly in this office."
Suspect
• Name: Raul Garcia-Gomez
• Description: Hispanic male, 5-foot-6, 150 pounds, short shaved dark brown hair, brown eyes, thin mustache, tattoo on left hand
• Vehicle: Last seen driving a white 1995 Dodge Neon, four doors with temporary Colorado tags
Tancredo also questioned whether the Cherry Cricket had taken proper steps to verify Garcia-Gomez's legal status when he was hired.
This is a current topic which needs to resonate within the FR community.
Denver Mayor, and employer of this illegal alien, John Hickenlooper, said he knows of no such Denver Law.
I don't think there is such a law in Denver, but rather it is accepted practice by Denver police.
Hickenlooper is one of the good guys, but the pro-invader crowd is going to beat him like a rented mule over this. I sure hope I'm wrong.
Didn't Hickenlooper state on the radio this morning (Pete Boyles show) that he wasn't aware of any Sancuary laws?? As mayor, shouldn't he be aware of them???? Interesting how you found the law so easily.
It's worrisome because I've heard Hickenlooper's name batted around for governor.
It sounds like the "STICK" of "THE CARROT AND STICK" approach needs to be applied here...Tell the city "NO FEDERAL FUNDS" for ANY REASON while the "Sanctuary Law." is in effect.
Undoubtedly this POS is hightailing his way to the murder's sanctuary of Mexico.
Sounds good to me.
FYI....
Duplicate post?
Cherry Cricket managers told police that Garcia-Gomez presented a resident-alien card when he applied for the job... The card was handed over Monday and gave the police their first photo of the suspect - albeit an unclear one.
"You could see that this card was fake," said the police source, who added that the card was falling apart and typewritten.
Driscoll said he believed the restaurant complied with the letter of the law. It took a copy of Garcia-Gomez's Social Security card and a copy of his resident-alien card that appeared to be in order and legal.
Driscoll said the company is currently meeting with the management of all its restaurants to provide them with a list of workers whose information did not match Social Security's records, but had not yet met with the Cherry Cricket's management.
'He shot the officers'
Suspect confessed to gunning down pair, his girlfriend says
By Fernando Quintero and Sarah Langbein, Rocky Mountain News
May 11, 2005
The girlfriend of a man accused of killing one Denver detective and wounding another says he made a bedside confession to her just hours after leaving a baptismal party that ended in bloodshed.
Sandra Rivas, who hoped to marry the father of her 3-week-old daughter, said Tuesday that suspect Raul Garcia-Gomez admitted to shooting the officers and pleaded for forgiveness before fleeing their home.
Rivas told the Rocky Mountain News that she sensed something was wrong with Garcia-Gomez, 19, when the pair returned home from the party early Sunday.
At 5 a.m., she finally asked what was wrong.
"He said, 'I'm going to tell you. Please forgive me.' And then he told me he had shot the security officers," Rivas said. "I told him he had to turn himself in."
The news of an alleged confession capped off a day of developments that began at a 3 a.m. news conference, where bleary-eyed police announced they had a suspect in the Sunday shootings of detectives John Bishop and Donald Young, who later died.
Denver Police Division Chief Dave Fisher said an anonymous tip to the CrimeStoppers line on Monday morning led investigators to Garcia-Gomez, who police believe may have fled the state.
Authorities are focusing their attention on Las Vegas, Nev., and Los Angeles, where Garcia-Gomez has family and friends. Police are also concerned he may try to cross the border into Mexico, where he was born. The suspect has no known relatives there, but authorities have obtained a federal warrant accusing him of unauthorized flight to avoid prosecution.
As officers across the country remain on the lookout, Denver cops are anxiously awaiting a second tip that will lead them directly to the alleged killer.
"He is treacherous, and he will not go easily," Police Chief Gerry Whitman said. "That's what I predict."
Eviction and then rage
On their final night together, Rivas and Garcia-Gomez celebrated the baptism of her infant cousin at Salon Ocampo, a banquet hall on West Mississippi Avenue.
The couple danced to the music of her uncle's band, Grupo Cautivos, and feasted on chicken mole.
"We had all gone to the party together," said Rivas, 18. "It was thrown by my uncle, so we were all invited. At one point, he (Garcia-Gomez) left the party. I went to look for him when I noticed he had been gone awhile. I just figured he had gone home."
Rivas' mother, Rosalva, said the music and dancing had ended when shots rang out.
"We were eating cake," Rosalva Rivas said. "We heard gunshots. People ran and screamed and gathered in a corner away from the front entrance, where the shots were fired. I looked for my children. That's the first and only thing that came to my mind."
Sandra Rivas returned to her family's home on South Vrain Street around 1:30 a.m. Sunday. Garcia-Gomez walked in about a half-hour later, looking sad and nervous.
Her boyfriend confided in her before dawn, she said.
"It turned out security didn't let him back in," Rivas said. "He tried to get in with my brother and my cousin. He said his wife and daughter were inside the hall, but they still wouldn't let him in. He tried to force his way in when one of the officers grabbed him by the neck and the arm. I guess that got him angry. I don't know."
Later that morning, while Rivas was half asleep, Garcia-Gomez kissed her on the forehead, kissed their baby and departed. He had packed some of his clothes.
"I'm so scared," said Rivas from her bedroom as a Spanish-language soap opera flickered in the background.
"What he said he did is unimaginable."
Rosalva Rivas had mixed feelings of disbelief and concern for her family's safety.
"I never imagined he would do something like that," she said of her daughter's boyfriend. "I still can't believe it. We don't know what to do. We're afraid of Raul coming back home. We don't know what he'll do. We don't know what the police will do."
One more tip is needed
Denver police have posted the suspect's picture in all their patrol cruisers and are counting on agencies across the country to join the hunt for the suspect, who had been kicked out of the baptismal party twice before the shooting, according to a source close to the investigation.
Fisher, who heads the investigations division, said officers have not found any information indicating that Garcia-Gomez has a criminal history but added that the suspect may use a variety of names.
Department leaders said most detectives on the case haven't gone home since the shooting, as is evident by their unchanged clothing.
"They're running on adrenaline and doughnuts, I think," Whitman said.
The chief said he believes an arrest is just a phone call away.
"We need one more tip," he said.
Rosalva Rivas shares her modest-sized rental home in northwest Denver with her daughter, Garcia-Gomez, and the couple's baby, Jameled Stacey. Rosalva Rivas' husband, Leopoldo, and five of their other children also live there.
"I'm afraid for my daughter," Rosalva Rivas said. "She hasn't come out of her room or eaten since Sunday."
Surrounded by stuffed animals and a large picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe above her bed, Sandra Rivas described her boyfriend as a hard-working, relatively mild-mannered young man who adored his infant daughter.
She met Garcia-Gomez shortly before she moved from Los Angeles to Denver with her family. They were introduced at the home of one of his cousins. She became pregnant with his baby just days after they met. She said Garcia-Gomez also had a baby out of wedlock with another girl he had met in Los Angeles before her.
Sandra Rivas said Garcia-Gomez had immigrated to Los Angeles from Durango, Mexico. He attended high school there but didn't graduate. When the couple moved to Denver with her family, her uncle, who is the kitchen manager at the Cherry Cricket restaurant, got Garcia-Gomez a job as a dishwasher there.
"He went to work and came straight home every night," she said. "He didn't hang out with any bad people. His few friends were his co-workers at the restaurant."
She said Garcia-Gomez never seemed violent to her. "He had his moments. When he got angry, he got silent. He held everything in," she said.
Rivas said she didn't know where Garcia-Gomez got the gun he used to shoot the officers and denied knowing where he may be hiding.
"If he's not here (in Denver), he's in Los Angeles, where his family lives," she said. "All his family lives there. His mother, his father, uncles, cousins, grandparents."
Despite the devastating news, Rosalva Rivas said her family is trying to move forward. Her daughter, however, is coping with an uncertain future.
"We were going to get married after our daughter was baptized," Sandra Rivas said, her eyes growing red with tears. "I don't know what the future holds now."
Tuesday's developments
• Search: Police across the country search for Raul Garcia-Gomez, suspected of killing Detective Donald Young and wounding Detective John Bishop.
• Confession: The girlfriend of the 19-year-old suspect tells the Rocky Mountain News that he confessed to her several hours after the shooting, alleging that the officers had roughed him up when tossing him out of a baptism party.
• Illegal immigrant: Investigators discover that Garcia-Gomez worked for a restaurant co-owned by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. A manager confirms he was hired based on bogus documents.
• Off-duty police work: A Denver councilwoman wants to re-evaluate officers' off-duty work after city officials rule that Young was killed in the line of duty, meaning his widow will receive full benefits.
• Donations: The community comes together, donating money and praying for Young. Young's father-in-law and friends remember a kind and committed family man with a passion for motorcycles.
Reward
CrimeStoppers is offering a $50,000 reward to anyone providing information that leads to an arrest and conviction in the shooting death of Denver police Detective Donald Young. Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 720-913-STOP. Informants can remain anonymous.
CrimeStoppers está ofreciendo una recompensa de $50,000 a cualquiera que proporcione información que termine en una conviccion en la muerte del Detective Donald Young. Si usted tiene información, por favor llame CrimeStoppers al 720-913-STOP. Informantes pueden permanecer anónimos.
Suspect
• Name: Raul Garcia-Gomez
• Description: Hispanic male, 5-foot-6, 150 pounds, short shaved dark brown hair, brown eyes, thin mustache, tattoo on left hand
• Vehicle: Last seen driving a white 1995 Dodge Neon, four doors with temporary Colorado tags
Y'all don't mind picking up the tab for the murder's kids do you?
The mixture of Socialism with Illegal Immigration is utterly toxic.
As they say "that's a fact Jack".
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