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Sheriff: Man with drunken-driving history used alias
(Newsday (Melville, NY) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jul. 19--The eyes have it.
Suffolk officials say a high-tech iris scanning device caught a Brentwood man in a lie Thursday when he used an alias after he was arrested on drunken driving charges.
Jose Figueroa, 26, tried to pass himself off as Jorge Romero during arraignment in First District Court in Central Islip, the Suffolk sheriff's office said Friday.
He was almost released on bail as Romero when a routine prerelease eye scan revealed his true identity, officials said. Figueroa is a repeat drunken driver with 27 license suspensions and revocations, the sheriff's office said.
After Deputy Sheriff George Raynor caught Figueroa in the lie, his bail was revoked, the sheriff's office said. He was rearrested and arraigned Friday on charges of drunken driving and misdemeanor criminal impersonation, said a spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney's office.
Figueroa pleaded not guilty before Judge Gaetan Lozito in First District Court and was released on $1,550 bail.
Figueroa and his attorney, Phil Solages of Smithtown, could not be reached for comment Friday.
The Suffolk sheriff's office has used iris scanning technology since March 2007 to record the eyes of more than 25,000 people arraigned at First District Court or booked at the Riverhead jail. Besides Figueroa, at least four people have been arrested after the scans showed they were wanted for other crimes.
The scanner works by identifying the unique patterns and textures of a person's iris, the colored part of the eye between the cornea and lens. Both the left and right eyes are scanned by a handheld device, and the information is stored in a database, which can quickly verify the identity of any individual.
In a statement, Sheriff Vincent DeMarco said iris scans, which compare suspects' scans to those of other arrestees, improve public safety.
"This cutting-edge technology will make it increasingly more difficult for offenders to evade detection," he said.
To see more of Newsday, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.newsday.com
Copyright (c) 2008, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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