Posted on 09/29/2005 6:27:20 AM PDT by devane617
TRINITY - The class schedule for 17-year-old Josue Oswaldo Ramirez-Mejia looked a lot like those of his classmates at Mitchell High School:
American history, language arts, economics and government, personal fitness.
Since Aug. 26, he had been just another student in this bustling, overcrowded Pasco County school.
But on Tuesday, Ramirez-Mejia's lost wallet betrayed his secret.
He was 27, not 17. The woman who registered him was his sister and not, as school officials were told, his mother. His school transcript was a forgery. So was his birth certificate. He was a Guatemala-born illegal immigrant who authorities say broke the law to get into Mitchell.
His motive?
Ramirez-Mejia wanted a good education.
"He came here for his education," Josue's brother, Maximo Ramirez-Mejia, said outside the Pasco County jail, where his brother was being held Wednesday on $5,000 bail on a charge of uttering a forged instrument.
His plan, Maximo Ramirez-Mejia said, was to finish high school, learn English, work a few years in the United States and then return to Guatemala, where he might get into real estate.
"America, everything is beautiful," Maximo Ramirez-Mejia, 34, said in English before switching to Spanish: " "En Guatemala, la gente se muere . (People are dying)."
The 27-year-old's strategy unraveled Tuesday after another student found Ramirez-Mejia's wallet in the physical education area of the school's campus, assistant superintendent Jim Davis said.
The billfold was given to a teacher, who gave it to a school resource officer, who in turn began an investigation that was still under way late Wednesday.
School officials said Ramirez-Mejia raised no red flags during his month on campus. He was taking reading and English as a second language, in addition to the other classes. The principal knew him only when she was shown a photo, Davis said.
"Of all the things to do wrong out there, I think we have to sympathize. For most of us, education is so important" said Melissa Lazarin, education policy analyst for the National Council of La Raza, a nonprofit organization involved in Hispanic issues.
What stumped school officials was that Ramirez-Mejia could have obtained his education legally through the same school district without altering any documents. He could have enrolled in Pasco's adult education courses, taken English classes and eventually enrolled in a high school equivalency program.
"It's a shame he thought that was the only way he could get an education," said Anne Johnson, director of community, career and technical education. "There are just all kinds of things that could have been available."
Maximo Ramirez-Mejia said he didn't think his brother knew he had such an option.
Now, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has begun deportment proceedings.
If Ramirez-Mejia is released from Pasco County jail on bail, the federal agency will pick him up and detain him at Bradenton Detention Center in Manatee County until he posts a second bail, said immigration spokeswoman Pam McCullough.
"I got the $5,000," Maximo Ramirez-Mejia said in both English and Spanish before leaving the jail Wednesday. "But I need to work a long time for $5,000. Maybe is better si el se va para Guatemala (if he goes to Guatemala)."
Ramirez-Mejia was not allowed to see his brother in jail Wednesday. Pasco County sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll said proper visitation paperwork and procedures had not been processed.
Josue Ramirez-Mejia came to the United States three years ago, but lived in West Palm Beach until a few months ago, his brother said.
Corporate filing records show the brothers run a tiling business together, Torre Fuerte Flooring Inc. of Lake Worth. Maximo Ramirez-Mejia said his brother would attend classes in the day and then work in the afternoons and evenings.
"The work we have, you have to know English," Maximo said, adding that if his brother goes back to Guatemala he might have to join him because he doesn't know if he can run the business on his own.
Neighbors in their west Pasco neighborhood of Holiday described the brothers as kind, friendly people. They play accordion, sing a lot, read the Bible and work hard, said a neighbor who only gave her name as Gayle.
Three times a week, Josue and his brother attended La Luz del Mundo, a Spanish-speaking church in Holiday, their pastor said when he stopped by the house Wednesday afternoon.
Neighbor Omartin Martinez, 19, said Josue lent him a bike after Martinez was hit by a car and forced to begin collecting disability payments from Social Security.
The Pasco Sheriff's Office said it found only traffic tickets in Josue Ramirez-Mejia's history. A St. Petersburg Times review of public records found two felony charges to a Josue Ramirez Majia with the same birth date and similar physical description.
On Jan. 23, 2004, in Lake Clarke Shores, someone by that name was arrested for auto theft and possessing a false identification card. A photo on the Palm Beach County Web site appears to match that issued by the Pasco Sheriff's Office.
The disposition of that arrest was not clear from public records late Wednesday, but he was found guilty of possessing a fictitious identification.
Maximo Ramirez-Mejia said the matter had been dropped by the courts. He said his brother's arrest was the result of a mix-up in which he bought a Mitsubishi Eclipse for $500 and the man he bought it from reported it stolen. Then, his brother was picked up while driving it.
Asked what he thinks will happen to his brother now, Maximo said he was remaining positive.
"He's going to be okay," he said, "because he's got much faith and he's smart."
I don't like the idea of a nearly 30 year old man playing teenager with real teens.
This guy must be young-looking to pass for a 17 year old...
So they're trying to gin up sympathy for an illegal alien car thief?
Now that we know he is in the country illegally, has forged documents and misrepresented himself, I assume that he will be IMMEDIATELY DEPORTED!
Yeh...sure.
I just move back to TX from Trinity, FL. This guy would be VERY out of place in Mitchell High School. I suspect he was up to more than an education. Looks like they have him locked up real tight for a small violation like this. More to the story than what has be printed in this article.
Athorities report that his reading glasses and subscription to "Modern Maturity" tipped investigators off. The suspect was also reported to ramble to students about how "back in my day, I had to walk 20 miles to school in seven feet of snow."
His sister pretending to be his mother enrolled him in school.
Sounds like the whole pack needs to be deported.
I didn't even have to look to know this cxme from the St Petersberg Times.
Of course they came down on the side of the "poor immigrant".
Their major headline yesterday was, "Many more asking, What can I cut out?" (Of your budget, being the economy is so bad)- another example of their editorializing on the front page.
I've seen them use this tactic several times, if Bush can be given a backwards smack from it.
I dunno...these days...27 looks real young, and seventeen looks real old.
and jhust how exactly was he enrolled in school with no paperwork? I just enrolled my daughters in a new school and had to produce birth certificates, residence proof, prior school records... you name it.
should I have saved myself a lot of time and legwork and just told them "No habla english"
he is still here, cause our FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS STUCK ON STUPID!!!!!!
Because the current leadership(?) in our government lacks the courage to enforce our laws, secure our borders, and put Americans first.
He is deceiving everyone. These illegal aliens come here and we let them stay attend schools for free. They come make $$$'s steal jobs, and take their winnings home. All at our expense.
He stole a spot in a public school from someone else who deserved to be there. If not he overcrowded the classroom with one more person.
We keep feeling sorry for lawbreakers. While they think we are the dumbest nation on earth to let them. If we complain, they throw out the idea we are racist. Yeah, we are all stuck on stupid, for putting up with it.
There must be three or four women teachers at the school thinking "Damn, I could have boinked him legally."
Yeah, but knowing how old he is would have taken the fun out of it.
His sister should've signed him up for little league baseball. He could've been the next Danny Almonte.
ping
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