SACRAMENTO: "ILLEGAL" ARRESTED IN CONNECTION WITH RAILROAD TRESTLE FIRE

Back in March of this year, we had a huge railroad trestle fire in Sacramento. The trestle was old and made of wood, so the fire quickly got out-of-hand, burning for 24 hours. The Union-Pacific line, a vital link with the rest of the country, had to be shut down while a new trestle was being built.

Federal authorities now have a suspect in custody, and, you guessed it, he's in this country illegally. What's more, he's been through our court system many times, once even doing time in prison. From the Sacramento Bee (reg req):

"A Salvadoran national in the United States illegally is the subject of an ongoing federal investigation and is under indictment for allegedly lying about his whereabouts at the time of the March 15 blaze that destroyed the Union Pacific Railroad trestle along the American River Parkway, a federal prosecutor confirmed Monday.

In order to keep José Eduardo Moran-Marques, who is homeless, from disappearing while the investigation continued, he was arrested as a vagrant and then rearrested by federal authorities on May 18 on a charge of re-entering the United States illegally after being deported on Aug. 1, 2003."

Here's some background on our "illegal guest":

"Moran-Marques, who has six aliases and has provided authorities with at least two birth dates, was arrested in February in Sacramento County on a misdemeanor drug possession charge, according to court and jail records.

His criminal history in Sacramento includes three separate drunken driving charges to which he pleaded no contest in 2005, resulting in just over a year in prison and five years of probation, court records show."

No rush to judgement here, just reporting the news. I'll post more as the story progresses.

Complete photo gallery here.