Two men allegedly in the country illegally have been arrested in Schuylkill County after they were suspected of cutting down trees on coal company property this week.
Police in Mahanoy Township say they were called to land owned by Gilberton Coal Co. at about 12:30 p.m. Monday. At the scene, police say they met with an employee company who directed them to a secluded area where two Hispanic men were cutting down white birch trees and stacking them in the bed of a pickup truck.
The men had reportedly ignored the coal company employee’s order to stop cutting down the trees and to get off the land, which had been posted.
Police say they confronted them. One – later identified as Luis Hernandez-Gonzalez, 25, of Flemington, New Jersey – presented a Mexico identification card. The other man was identified as Raul Montero, 29, and also of Flemington.
Through an interpreter on the Mahanoy Township Police force, it was learned that the men cut down the trees and then sell them for money to buy food. They reportedly said they used GPS to find the area where they were cutting down the trees.
Both men were taken into custody and taken back to the Mahanoy Township Police headquarters for processing. Police say they made contact with an agent with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who reportedly confirmed that Hernandez-Gonzalez and Montero were both in the country illegally.
Montero and Hernandez-Gonzalez were both arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Edward Tarantelli on Monday evening and charged with defiant trespass and criminal trespass. Montero is also facing a vehicular trespass charge.
Tarantelli set bail for each at $25,000 and they’re both being held in Schuylkill County Prison, according to court records.
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