El Paso man arrested after more than 70 copper flower vases stolen at Evergreen Cemetery
Daniel Sanchez, 53, was arrested on Tuesday, July 8, after allegedly attempting to sell two copper vases to a local recycling center that he knew had been stolen, an El Paso County Sheriff's Office news release issued by spokeswoman Priscilla I. Contreras stated.
The investigation began on Monday, July 7, after a person walked into the sheriff's East Montana Patrol Station to file a report about property stolen across the street at Evergreen Cemetery East at 12400 East Montana Ave., the Sheriff's Office stated.
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During the investigation, deputies found that about 70 graves were missing their copper flower vases, which appeared to have been systematically removed in thefts suspected of going on for several months, sheriff's officials said.
Several piles of discarded flowers were also found in the desert near the cemetery in a possible attempt to conceal the thefts of the vases, which have a value of about $400 each, sheriff's officials said.
As part of the investigation, deputies and detectives from the East Montana station contacted several local recycling centers.
A center informed investigators that Sanchez was attempting to quickly sell a pair of copper vases, leading to the arrest of Sanchez in the theft case, officials said.
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Sanchez, of the far East Side, was arrested on one count of theft of property worth between $750 and $2,500. El Paso County Jail records show Sanchez was booked into the Downtown jail on Tuesday, July 8, and released that same day after posting a $1,000 surety bond.
An investigation continues. Anyone with information or who may have been impacted by the cemetery flower vase thefts may call the El Paso County Sheriff's Office at 915-273-3814.
Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com and @BorundaDaniel on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso man arrested in theft of Evergreen Cemetery flower vases
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Fox News
37 minutes ago
- Fox News
Massachusetts bill would force ICE agents to unmask
A new bill in Massachusetts aims to require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and other federal immigration enforcement officers to unmask. The legislative proposal was introduced Wednesday by Democratic state Rep. James Hawkins. It calls for a new section to the Massachusetts Penal Code that states, "A law enforcement officer shall not wear any mask or personal disguise while interacting with the public in the performance of their duties, except for medical grade masks that are surgical or N95 respirators designed to prevent the transmission of airborne diseases and masks designed to protect against exposure to smoke or toxins during a state of emergency." "A violation of this section shall be punishable as a misdemeanor," the bill, which was co-sponsored by another 10 Democratic state representatives, said. It says the intent of the legislature is to enact legislation "to require law enforcement officers to include their name or badge number on their uniforms," as well as to enact legislation to "ensure that Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team officers can utilize gear necessary to protect their faces from physical harm while they perform their SWAT responsibilities." ICE acting director Todd Lyons defended mask-wearing by his agents during a May press conference announcing an operation had resulted in nearly 1,500 arrests across Massachusetts. "I'm sorry if people are offended by them wearing masks, but I'm not going to let my officers and agents go out there and put their lives on the line, their family on the line, because people don't like what immigration enforcement is," Lyons during a press conference in Boston. "Is that the issue here that we're upset about, the masks? Or is anyone upset about the fact that ICE officers' families were labeled terrorists?" 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Hawkins cited the March arrest of Tufts University graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk by masked Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents outside of her home in Somerville, Mass. ICE accused the 30-year-old Turkish national of supporting Hamas, and DHS later confirmed her student visa had been revoked. She was subsequently transported to ICE detention centers in New Hampshire, Vermont and Louisiana, until a judge approved her release and return to Massachusetts in May. The bill is only the latest of a series of legislative proposals brought by Democrats seeking to unmask ICE agents. U.S. Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Alex Padilla, D-Calif., introduced the "Visible Identification Standards for Immigration-Based Law Enforcement" or VISIBLE Act this week. They argue the bill would "strengthen oversight, transparency, and accountability for the Trump Administration's indiscriminate and alarming immigration enforcement tactics that have terrorized communities across California and the nation." Reacting to the Senate bill, President Donald Trump noted how demonstrators protesting ICE and other Trump administration policies don masks and other face coverings regularly to hide their identities. "It's sort of funny when people picket in front of Columbia, in front of Harvard, and they have masks on – more than masks. I mean, you can't see anything. Nobody complains about that. But when a patriot who works for ICE or Border Patrol puts a mask on so that they won't recognize him and his family, so they can lead a little bit of a normal life after having worked so hard and so dangerously, there's a problem with that," Trump said Wednesday during a White House meeting with African leaders. "This is the problem with the Democrats. 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The Verge
an hour ago
- The Verge
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It relied on the US Marshals Service to operate deportation flights on the small fleet of Boeing 737s primarily used to transport federal inmates around the country. Removal flights quickly became an important tool for ICE. They were an efficient way to deport large numbers of people without the public spectacle of using commercial airplanes or public airports. In 2005, the US Marshals flew almost 100,000 deportees on behalf of ICE, versus only 58,000 inmates for the Department of Justice. By the end of the decade, the Marshals were deporting more than 170,000 people every year but did not have the capacity to handle any more. ICE Air is no less brutal than the agency's heavy-handed field operations So, under Barack Obama's administration, the agency turned to the private sector. In 2010, ICE began working with a company called Classic Air Charter to broker deportation flights directly from charter airlines. During the global war on terror, the company served as an intermediary for the CIA's 'extraordinary rendition' program, sourcing charter flights that shuttled terrorism suspects to CIA black sites around the world. Deportation would simply be an expansion of its government business. And a far more lucrative one, too. Contracts for the CIA's infrequent rendition flights rarely broke into seven-figure territory. In contrast, charter contracts from ICE would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars every year. Since then, ICE Air has grown into an operation rivaling that of a small commercial airline. It operates a fleet of 12 large airplanes (currently a mix of Boeing 737s, MD-80s, and Airbus A320s) every day, plus a reserve fleet of more than 100 airplanes of various sizes that it can activate for one-off flights. ICE does not make its routes, schedules, or even its flight statistics public. 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Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Federal judge deems former Chicago alderman accused of bribery unfit for trial
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