BY LOUIE VILLALOBOS
Aug 10, 2003
The two men accused of unlawfully detaining six illegal immigrants at gunpoint have either been married or are married to immigrants and each have a son who is half Mexican, family members said on Saturday.
In order to refute the perception that their son and husband are racists vigilantes, the wife of Alexander Dumas and the father of Matthew Hoffman spoke to The Sun about what their loved ones are accused of doing and why they may have done it.
"I want everyone to know that Alex isn't racist," said Dumas' Guatemalan wife, who asked she not be identified. "He's not that kind of person."
Authorities have said that both Dumas and Hoffman detained six illegal immigrants, including three children, on July 31 by pointing guns at them and handcuffing them until Border Patrol agents arrived.
Both men are currently facing six counts of aggravated assault and five counts of unlawful imprisonment and one count of conspiracy to commit unlawful imprisonment following the incident.
Dumas' wife, who came to the U.S. on a visa as a child, said the two men are longtime friends who drove to Yuma on July 30 from Dumas' home in Big Bear Lake, Calif. She said the men decided to go out early on July 31.
Deputies said they went to the area of County 18th Street and the Colorado River, in Gadsden.
"They said let's go Mexican hunting," she said. "That was Matt's idea."
Though she believes they may have looked for illegal immigrants once before, Dumas' wife said her husband definitely regretted going out that day. After driving back home on Aug. 1, Dumas' wife said her husband spoke about the incident and said he helped detain women and children.
Adding to his regret, she said, was that Dumas has a 3-year-old son with a Mexican woman from a previous relationship and that his mother is a Japanese woman who first arrived to the United States with a visa.
"He told me 'I don't have the heart to do that,'" she said. "He said he wasn't going to do it again."
Martin Hoffman said though his son is against illegal immigrants, he did not go out that morning specifically to find some. He said the men were in the area and were startled when the group came out of the bushes.
"They were there off-roading and happen to stumble across them." he said.
He said his son was married to a Mexican national who is now living in San Diego with a visa and the two have a son together.
The night of the incident, Martin Hoffman said his son called his ex-wife and asked her to tell the illegal immigrants what was going on.
"She verified that they were illegal and informed them that they were under citizen's arrest," he said.
Martin Hoffman said his son told family members about the incident and didn't expect to be arrested. Then, on Monday, deputies arrived with a search warrant and handcuffed everyone in the house, he said.
A copy of the warrant provided to the family shows deputies were looking for a variety of things, including communications and optical devices and guns, he said. When they left, he said they took with them 22 items that included three computers, a BB gun, a blue notebook, handcuffs and one gun.
Family members for both men said they will not be able to raise the bond money needed to have them released while the matter goes through the court system or a lawyer. Dumas and Matthew Hoffman are being held on a bond of $88,000 and $68,000, respectively.
As they wait for the outcome of the what the wife called poor judgement and the father called an accident, family members said they are in agreement that whatever the men may have done wasn't done out of racism.
"As far as them trying to make it sound like a hate crime, that's totally ridiculous," Martin Hoffman said.
--- Louie Villalobos can be reached at lvillalobos@yumasun.com or 539-6858.
© Copyright, YumaSun.com
"They said let's go Mexican hunting," she said.
Thanks for posting this article GoRepGo. It filled in some details. I was wondering why these guys were walking around with handcuffs.