Immigrant

Three more people have been identified as alleged illegal immigrants by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department.

A random police checkpoint resulted in the immediate arrest of five Hispanics who were charged with being in the U.S. illegally. Three other Hispanics arrested at the same checkpoint on local charges were subsequently identified as alleged illegal immigrants. The three are being detained in the DeKalb County Jail, waiting to be picked up by officials with the U.S. Marshals Service and transferred to a federal detention facility, according to DeKalb County Sheriff Cecil Reed.

Those three are Fermin Godinez, 20, of Albertville; charged with forgery; Louis Serbia, age unknown, of Albertville, charged with forgery; and Agustin Hernandez, 25, of Albertville, charged with reckless endangerment. Reed said those charges are all local but once the three were identified as alleged illegals, his department placed an INS detainer on them.

Reed said federal agents on Monday picked up the five earlier charged with illegal entry into the U.S. Those five were Eduardo Lopez, Dennis Villegas A’Villes, Janet Gonzalez, Pascal Gaspar Francisco and Jesus Garcias Bacncenzar.

All eight alleged illegals were arrested during a random checkpoint in the Kilpatrick area on Friday. Reed said searching for illegal immigrants wasn’t the sole purpose of the checkpoint.

It was arranged in response to concerns voiced by a citizen’s group at a recent meeting of the DeKalb County Commission regarding criminal activity in the southern portion of the county.

However, using funds collected through the “Click It Or Ticket” program, Reed said the county brought in an officer from U.S. customs with experience with INS to help work the checkpoint. Reed said that officer has specialized training in how