Posted on 09/21/2003 9:57:13 PM PDT by Freedom of Speech Wins
Terrorism Task Force Arrests Local Man
Sun Sep 21,12:02 PM ET
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There are new details in the arrest of a Puerto Rican national charged with trying to sell stolen birth certificates to undercover FBI (news - web sites) agents.
Several sources say this bust was weeks in the making.
Jose M. Aponte, 26, apparently contacted a local businessman whom he'd known for more than a year. Authorities say Aponte offered to sell the man blank birth certificates stolen from Puerto Rico, all in return for cash.
Aponte, who is currently in the Marion County Jail, is trying to keep a low profile.
Assigned a federal public defender, he told Newschannel 2 he needs money and a good lawyer. He also said he's just regular guy trying to make it from day to day -- not someone who knowingly dealt with anyone connected to terrorism.
Aponte wouldn't talk on the record about his case or about the details surrounding his arrest, but several sources say it all happened at the Quality Inn at Interstate 75 and West Silver Springs Boulevard.
That's where FBI agents -- posing as Middle Eastern men -- met Aponte in a room under heavy surveillance. The agents claimed to have ties to terrorists who wanted a bunch of U.S. birth certificates. The certificates would have enabled other Middle Easterners to enter the U.S. illegally.
While he won't talk about this case specifically, Domestic Terrorism Task Force member Scott Patch says his team has worked several similar cases in central Florida since Sept. 11, 2001.
"Anytime that you have an incident where the potential for somebody's identity to become called into question -- and for somebody to be issued real documents -- it's a national security issue," Patch said. "That's what our unit does."
The FBI says agents found 1,021 legitimate blank birth certificates on Aponte when he was arrested. Those same birth certificates had been reported stolen earlier this year from the Bureau of Vital Statistics in Dorado, Puerto Rico, where Aponte originally lived before moving to Ocala several years ago.
Wrong. California Govenors do too.
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