U.S. Border Patrol detained a man living in Brunswick following a traffic stop by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office on Monday, Oct. 6.
Ignacio Esteban Gomez Morales, 36, was stopped by an officer from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office at approximately 4:45 a.m. on Monday morning, according to LCSO Chief Deputy Rand Maker.
Leading up to the traffic stop, Gomez Morales had run a red light at the Belvedere Road roundabout construction in Damariscotta, which currently has alternating one-way traffic.
“(The officer) observed a vehicle basically go around several vehicles and through the red light and apparently wasn’t going to wait,” Maker said.
When asked for license and registration, Gomez Morales showed his Costa Rican passport and identification card, Maker said. Gomez Morales acknowledged he did not have a Maine driver’s license and had been unable to obtain one. The address he provided as residence was located in Brunswick, according to Maker.
“Based on that interaction and the fact that he had no license … we reached out to the Border Patrol,” Maker said.
After contacting Border Patrol, the officer told Gomez Morales what was happening and issued him a summons for operating a vehicle without a license, Maker said.
“We’re not the immigration police, but we’re not going to ignore criminal activity,” Maker said. “In this case here, we had a young man who made a bad choice with his decision to blow through a red light … We treated the situation as fairly and as equitably as we could.”
U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement was not involved at the scene in Damariscotta, according to Maker.
An ICE representative said on Wednesday, Oct. 15 the agency’s databases indicated no one by the name of Ignacio Esteban Gomez Morales had been arrested by ICE.
The Lincoln County News reached out to several representatives from Border Patrol for an update on Gomez Morales’ status by phone and email starting Tuesday, Oct. 7.
Despite continuous communication throughout the week, representatives at the agency said response times have slowed due to the current federal government shutdown and were unable to provide any case information by publication.
