'I put my life in danger to earn my citizenship. I worked hard to earn what I have. Why would I sacrifice my life to do something like this?'
Mambasse Patara, a Marine and LAPD officer, says he had no idea his handyman was an undocumented immigrant when he drove through a Border Patrol checkpoint. He figured it was a simple misunderstanding, but prosecutors spent a year trying to send him to federal prison.
Patara says he had no idea the two men in his car — one a neighborhood handyman he’d known for years — were in the country without legal authorization. The experience, Patara said, has shaken his faith in the legal system — leaving him unsure if he can return to work as a police officer. On the day he was arrested, Patara said, he and his wife, Minerva Hernandez, had traveled from Fontana to El Centro to meet Ramirez-Gonzalez and his wife, Mary Aragon.
Court records about their sentencing were not available, and a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego declined to provide additional details. “I put my life in danger to earn my citizenship. I worked hard to earn what I have. Why would I sacrifice my life to do something like this?"Evidence presented at Patara’s trial did little to suggest he had conspired to violate immigration law.
“Mr. [Patara’s] position as a police officer does not change the fact that he was transporting two illegal aliens,” said Ralph DeSio, a spokesman for the Border Patrol in San Diego. Carlos described Patara as “the immigrant dream” in his opening statement at trial, a label his client seems to take to heart.
During the trial, prosecutors repeatedly questioned the circumstances that brought Patara to the checkpoint. Prosecutors cited what they said were the oddities of Patara’s travel. Asst. U.S. Atty. Shauna Prewitt asked why the men did not meet at a casino closer to Fontana, and why they spent so little time at the Golden Acorn after such an arduous journey.
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