Man pleads not guilty for allegedly working with an alias
Published 6:57 am Friday, February 12, 2010
An Austin man who was working as a supervisor at Quality Pork Processors faces aggravated forgery charges after a manager turned him in to authorities for allegedly working with an alias.
Juan Pablo Santiago-Estrada, 26, pleaded not guilty to three counts of the felony offense Thursday. He is scheduled to next appear in court on March 26.
According to a criminal complaint, the manager originally notified police of the situation last summer.
The manager said he believed Santiago-Estrada was working as “Rogelio Lopez” by way of fraudulent documents provided to the company. “Lopez” began working for QPP in 2002, records indicate.
The manager said “Lopez” denied being Santiago-Estrada when confronted.
Police investigated the “Lopez” name and discovered that he had been involved in a few criminal incidents locally. In one of those, a 2004 assault case, the victim reportedly called the man “Pablo Santiago” during the fight, according to the complaint.
That victim also reported that Santiago-Estrada was working illegally at QPP.
During another incident in February of this year, Santiago-Estrada’s girlfriend reportedly called him by his true name during a fight, records show.
Further investigation showed that “Lopez’s” Social Security number came back linked to two men — one living in Texas, and one in Austin, Minn.
Police printed a photo of “Lopez” from a Minnesota database and showed it to the man’s estranged wife, who lived with the defendant in Austin from 2003 to 2006.
The woman identified the man in the photo as Santiago-Estrada and said she had one child with the man, according to the complaint.
Police arrested Santiago-Estrada earlier this month and confronted him about the two names. The man initially stuttered, than said he wanted to speak with his attorney, the complaint states.
However, he reportedly told jailers that he was born in Mexico and not a U.S. citizen, according to the complaint. Police searched his wallet when he was booked and found several receipts in his real name but several IDs using the alias.
