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What started as an investigation into a deadly hit-and-run at a Florida trailer park over the weekend turned into an immigration bust as police came across six Guatemalan men in the U.S. illegally.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said deputies responded to the Willow Oak Mobile Home Park after someone called 911 early Sunday morning to report a 21-year-old man dead inside his home.
When law enforcement got to the house and checked out the man, who has not been identified, the sheriff’s office said his injuries were “consistent with being run over by a vehicle.”
The department’s Traffic Unit began investigating the man’s death and learned that he had been run over in a driveway Saturday night during a party at one of the trailers where “nearly everyone” was drinking alcohol.
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A witness told traffic homicide detectives that the man was lying down in the driveway when Ponciano Cinto-Ramirez, 52, got inside a van that was parked in the driveway, put it into reverse and backed over him – and continued driving off.
Partygoers yelled at Cinto-Ramirez to tell him that he ran over a person, according to the witness, but he drove to lot #32 and went inside the trailer on that property.
At some point, the victim was dragged into his home, but police did not state how that took place or who may have taken him inside.
Deputies went to lot #32 to speak with Cinto-Ramirez and found “several people inside” the trailer who refused to come out.
“Eventually, one by one, they came outside but refused to give deputies information or cooperate,” the PCSO said, adding that two men who came out gave them fake identification.
During in-custody interviews, deputies learned that all six men are in the U.S. illegally, which enhances their charges.
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Cinto-Ramirez was charged with resisting arrest, driving without a license causing death and leaving the scene of a crash involving death. All three charges are felony counts.
Rigoberto Lopez Morales, 22, and Jacinto Lopez Morales, 46, were both charged with resisting arrest.
Alfredo Cinto-Ramirez, 48, and Leonel Cinto Lopez, 24, were both charged with resisting arrest and giving false information to law enforcement. Ramiro Cinto Lopez, 23, was charged with those same two charges and possession of an altered firearm.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said all six men “are facing serious felonies” and are under Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) holds to “hopefully” be deported back to Guatemala.
“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,” Judd said.
Police have responded to reports involving “large gatherings” at the Willow Oak Mobile Home Park several times over the years, according to FOX 35 Orlando, but it was not stated if this specific group of people has been reported in the past.
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