Man deported three times sentenced on Rexburg forgery charge
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REXBURG — An undocumented immigrant who has been deported to Mexico three times received a 10-year prison sentence Monday on a felony forgery charge.
District Judge Gregory Moeller sentenced Nicolas C. Rodriguez to two fixed years in prison and eight years indeterminate. Moeller gave Rodriguez credit for six months served in jail and ordered him to pay a $1,000 fine.
Rodriguez, 36, and his co-defendant, Peggy A. Rodriguez, 40, were arrested in March by Rexburg police while Peggy Rodriguez attempted to cash a forged check at Quick Cash on the 200 block of East Second North. Peggy Rodriguez is scheduled to be sentenced in October.
During the sentencing, Rodriguez’s defense attorney, Joshua Garner, asked Moeller for a suspended two-to-five-year prison sentence while Rodriguez serve probation.
“This is not a person living here in the United States committing violent crimes or drug offenses,” Garner said. “We believe punishment has been accomplished through Mr. Rodriguez serving the last six months in jail.”
Madison County Prosecutor Sid Brown recommended an in-patient prison treatment program known as a RIDER.
“We believe the retained jurisdiction program will best prepare the defendant for probation after he returns from his deportation,” Brown said.
In the end, Moeller believed straight prison time was the best option for Rodriguez, who is in the United States illegally and has been deported in 2000, 2007 and 2008.
“I know there might be some people who wonder, ‘Why should the Idaho taxpayers put this man in prison? Why don’t we just deport him?'” Moeller said. “If I believed he would stay deported, I would likely think the same thing. But the risk of the defendant returning and committing similar illegal acts is just too great.”