Six illegal immigrants were taken into custody following a man being killed in a hit-and-run in Central Florida.
Deputies from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office arrested the six suspects who entered the country illegally from Guatemala after being summoned to the Willow Oak Mobile Home Park to investigate a death and discovered that the man had been fatally struck by a vehicle before being dragged inside his home and left there.
The investigation began in the early morning hours, when the PCSO received a 911 call reporting the death of a 21-year-old man. The caller informed the call takers that the man had passed away inside his home.
When deputies and detectives arrived, they quickly concluded that the victim’s injuries were consistent with being driven over by a vehicle, so they called the PCSO Traffic Unit to investigate.
Detectives investigating Traffic Homicide found that a large party had taken place outside one of the trailers in the mobile home park. Nearly everyone at the celebration drank booze.
A witness told officers that the victim was lying down on the driveway. Ponciano Cinto-Ramirez, 52, was seen getting into a van parked on the driveway, shifting into reverse, and driving over the victim before leaving the scene. People at the party yelled at Cinto-Ramirez for running over the man, but he continued to drive away, eventually parking outside lot #32 and going inside.
When deputies arrived at lot #32, they discovered numerous people inside who refused to come out. They eventually came outside one by one but refused to provide information or assist the deputies. Two of the males who came outside provided the deputies with bogus identification.
After deputies had taken everyone into jail and interviewed them, they discovered that all six of the accused were unlawfully in the country from Guatemala. The following arrests were made, and all of the charges are increased due to their illegal statuses:
- Ponciano Cinto-Ramirez was charged with: Leaving the scene of crash involving death, Driving without a license causing death, and Resisting arrest.
- Alfredo Cinto-Ramirez was charged with: Resisting arrest, and Giving false info to LEO.
- Rigoberto Lopez Morales was charged with Resisting arrest.
- Jacinto Lopez Morales was charged with Resisting arrest.
- Leonel Cinto Lopez was charged with: Resisting arrest, and Giving false info to LEO.
- Ramiro Cinto Lopez was charged with: Resisting arrest, Giving false info to LEO, and Possession of altered firearm.
“All of these suspects are facing serious felonies, and ICE has placed holds on them as well to hopefully deport them back to Guatemala,” said Sheriff Grady Judd. “What started out as a neighborhood party ended up with a 21-year-old man dead and a group of illegal aliens going to jail.”