The following incident was reported by the Brecksville Police Department on Oct. 13. The information was compiled from a police report, except where otherwise mentioned.

Brecksville Police discovered two men who were living in the United States illegally when they pulled them over for speeding earlier this month.  

At about 8:09 a.m. on Oct. 13, an officer noticed a car going about 20 miles per hour over the speed limit on Interstate 77. The officer pulled the vehicle over and went to talk to the driver. The driver, a 26-year-old man from Canton, told the officer that he didn’t have a license or an issued social security number. The man, who told police he had moved to the country from Honduras nine years earlier, wrote down his name and birth date. The officer went to run his information and that of the passenger, a 23-year-old Canton man with a Honduras ID but no driver’s license.

The problem? There were no records of anyone with the driver’s name.

The driver broke down on the way to the station, telling police that he had legally come to the United States, but was now living as a “ghost,” along with the passenger. At the station, he said had lied about his name because he was afraid of being deported and gave his real name.  

Police contacted Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and determined that the men were living in the country illegally. They were detained and picked up by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement the next morning, said Detective Jim Lobenthal. The driver was also cited for speed, driving without a license and falsification. The owner of the car, a 31-year-old Canton woman who was not present, was cited for wrongful entrustment.

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