The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office arrested two men Thursday whose fingerprints were picked up by a new fingerprint identification program, AFIS Secure Communities, that scans all fingerprints in the ICE database (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement).
According to authorities, someone called 911 early Thursday morning to report a possible breaking and entering in progress at 2930 W. Hwy. 152, where two men were using a pry bar to open a door. They were driving a white van.
Sheriff’s Detective Sara Benfield spotted the van around 2 a.m. Thursday and the witness who reported the break-in identified the two men in the van as the men involved in the break-in.
Ricardo Valencia-Perez, 24, refused to give authorities his address, but was charged with attempted breaking and entering, giving fictitious information to an officer and possession of burglary tools.
Juan Emmanuel Martinez-Juarez, 25, of 7035 Coble Ave., Charlotte, was also charged with attempted breaking and entering, giving fictitious information to an officer and possession of burglary tools. He gave officers a different name, but his fingerprints identified him as Martinez-Juarez.
Both men were given $50,000 secured bond and will be prosecuted in Rowan County. ICE will prosecute Valencia-Perez for illegal re-entry.
Authorities said Valencia-Perez was deported after committing a crime, but came back.
Martinez-Juarez told authorities he was born in Texas, and is not in the U.S. illegally, and will be investigated by ICE.