Brown-Waite calls for investigation of Hillsborough Sheriff's Office in rape case

TAMPA -- U.S. Rep Ginny Brown-Waite is calling for a "full federal investigation" of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and a review of the interactions between area law enforcement and federal immigration officials. The call comes in the wake of news that one of the suspects in a string of rapes and other crimes in Hillsborough County was an illegal immigrant who was in custody twice without being detained by immigration authorities.

Read Brown-Waite's letter to U.S. Attorney Robert O'Neil

"What is it going to take for America to wake up and realize that illegal immigrants who commit crimes should not be back on our streets, but should be sent back to their home countries?" Brown-Waite said in a statement. "In this case, the lives of several Florida women have been permanently scarred by these brutal rapes; events that could have been avoided if Hillsborough County had followed the law, reported this illegal immigrant to federal authorities, and held him for trial and deportation."

Hillsborough sheriff's officials said they inform federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials each day of foreign-born detainees and have blasted what they say is a lack of interest and slow response time by ICE.

Sheriff David Gee blasted back at Brown-Waite during a news conference today, calling her inquiry "the most naive questionnaire I have ever read in my life."

"I was pretty annoyed by this statement out of Ginny Brown-Waite's office," Gee said. "I'm always annoyed when somebody in Congress wakes up and realizes a problem we have realized over the last 10 years."

Gee said Brown-Waite would have been better served by calling to get answers "before attempting to gain political traction at the expense of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office."

He said the Sheriff's Office notified ICE at the time Martinez was booked into the county on Aug. 5 that he was a Mexican national. The Sheriff's Office sends daily notifications to ICE when an inmate has a foreign-born status.

But Gee said he doesn't fault ICE for the problems.

"They are overwhelmed with this issue," the sheriff said. "You can come up with all the programs you want. But if you don't secure our borders it won't do any good."

That's the responsibility of people in Congress, like Brown-Waite, Gee said.

"All this finger pointing by people like Mrs. Waite doesn't do any good, and it doesn't make our country any safer," Gee said.

Gee said he has no intentions to formally respond to Brown-Waite's questions into how his deputies deal with potentially illegal immigrants.

But he said, "If she wants to have an investigation, I want to be the first guy interviewed."

Brown-Waite also mentions wanting to find out where St. Petersburg, along with Hillsborough and ICE, "dropped the ball." The St. Petersburg Police Department tipped off Hillsborough authorities to Martinez's whereabouts because he had an outstanding warrant, but St. Petersburg officials failed to tell the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office they suspected Martinez had a role in the rapes.

-- Times staff writer