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Mobile fingerprint scanner leads to arrest of ‘deported’ driver

Posted at 8:16 PM, Jun 26, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-26 20:16:59-04

CADILLAC, Mich.  — Michigan State Police say a mobile fingerprint scanner led to the traffic-stop arrest of a driver who had been previously deported for felony child molestation.

“The device connects to the trooper’s patrol car-mounted laptop via a bluetooth connection,” says MSP.  “If the individual is wanted, ‘hit’ information is also supplied with the subject’s photograph and other identifying features. This is a process which once took hours and required the subject to be driven to a post or other law-enforcement building.”

The traffic stop was on US-131 near Cadillac around 4 p.m. Tuesday.

MSP says in a news release the driver claimed to be from Texas and said he had lost his wallet. So, the trooper employed a mobile fingerprint scanner to identity the driver as a Mexican citizen. State Police say he not only had been deported on the child-molestation case, but also had an active sexual-assault warrant out of Texas and was wanted by ICE (U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement).

MSP says ICE agents took the driver into custody. Two children inside the vehicle were turned over to the man’s wife, who was driving in a separate vehicle just up ahead.