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« Sweep nets 123 fugitives wanted on felony charges | Today | Tonight: Gilbert and Sullivan fill the air in Wakefield » June 13, 2008Update: Woman abducted 'because she was there'Marco Riz had just been fired from his job as a cook at a Texas Roadhouse on Sunday, a Warwick police captain said, so he walked about a half-mile to the busy Stop & Shop supermarket on Route 2 that afternoon, went inside and changed his shirt. When he came back out, he saw a Ford SUV idling close by the store, with a 30-year-old woman sitting in the passenger seat. The woman’s mother had just stopped into a nearby store to pick something up, said Warwick police Capt. Michael Babula. She didn’t expect to be more than 10 minutes. In that moment, police believe, Riz saw an opportunity. By the time the mother emerged from the store, the SUV was gone -- and her daughter was in fear for her life. Riz, identified as an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, is now accused of kidnapping, robbery and rape. He is being held at the Adult Correctional Institutions after an intense multi-agency investigation tracked him down Thursday afternoon in Providence’s West End. He’s being detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a fugitive alien. ICE spokeswoman Paula Grenier said Riz had been ordered deported from the United States before, but she was unable to answer when the deportation order was issued or why. Police detectives in Warwick and Providence are calling Sunday’s attack “horrific” and “atrocious,” and utterly random. Riz and the woman he’s accused of kidnapping, robbing and raping were strangers, their lives connecting only by happenstance. “This poor woman was picked because she was there,” Babula said. -- Journal staff writer Amanda Milkovits It was a sunny late afternoon, shoppers walking in and out of the store, pushing carriages in the parking lot, seemingly oblivious to the man who opened the door to the idling SUV and jumped inside, brandishing a long steak knife at the woman in the passenger seat. “He was very bold,” Babula said, “and I think from outside the car, nothing got anyone’s attention.” Riz robbed the woman at knifepoint of her money and credit cards, Babula said. Then he put the SUV in gear and drove away with her. They headed toward Providence. Meanwhile, in Warwick, the mother had left the store and realized the SUV was gone. She waited, wondering where her daughter was, and her concern began to grow, Babula said. According to a police report, Riz drove the woman into Roger Williams Park in Providence, where he pulled the SUV off to the side and forced the woman out of the passenger side into the park. He took her into the woods, down by a path, where he sexually assaulted her, according to the report. It was around 6 p.m. and still light out. He became nervous where they were, and moved her to another spot, where he assaulted her again, the report said. Afterward, the report said, he took her back to the SUV and drove to Elmwood Avenue near Roger Williams Avenue, where he took off from the SUV and left the woman behind. Warwick and Providence police joined forces with the state police, the U.S. marshals, and the investigators of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “From the first moment, everyone took this with great seriousness,” Babula said. “Everyone took this as what it was, a terrible crime. … This is one of those that sticks in your mind.” In short order, they had the assailant’s picture from the Stop & Shop surveillance camera, but the victim didn’t know who he was. They needed a name. On Tuesday evening, the police appealed to the public for help and distributed the surveillance photo to the press. In less than a half-hour, Warwick police had their first tip to Riz’s identity. But the Guatemalan man had at least a dozen aliases, said Providence detective Capt. Hugh Clements, and at first the police were searching for him under one of his aliases: Saul Pizzarro-Aviles. When they tracked him down at 183 Linwood Ave. in the city’s West End, Clements said, they matched his fingerprints and learned his real name: Marco Riz. Riz, 26, is scheduled to be arraigned in Providence District Court on Monday. He faces charges on kidnapping and first-degree robbery from Warwick, and two counts of first-degree sexual assault from Providence. “This really was an atrocious crime,” Clements said. Posted by Mike McKinney Commentswasabi | June 13, 2008 9:41 PM link Being illegal in this country makes people not care, not think, about what they do. The desperation turns to violence - and our unsuspecting citizens are waiting victims. How many more stories need to be read before we wake up to illegal immigration in our state and the price we are all paying. I feel terrible for those who are here for extraordinary reasons and can't get legal status, however, this cannot stop us from pursuing freedom from people who have no fear of prosecution and no loyalty to the people they live with in their community. If this does not move forward the "E-Verify" bill which is stalemated, well, we will then surely have no hope. Those who are sworn to protect us will fail us again and again. Dan | June 13, 2008 9:51 PM link Illegal Immigrant uh?? Maybe the Governor was on to something?? Might be time to step up enforcement now?? dan | June 13, 2008 10:07 PM link That'll teach her mother to illegally park her car in the fire lane with the engine running! Marko | June 13, 2008 10:58 PM link Violent crime is reprehensible and a permanent emotional and physical disaster for the innocent victim. In this case we have yet again, an ILLEGAL invader who has been caught asked to come back to court for deportation hearings. Instead, get a few more aliases and carry on. They get a job where if E-verification was enforced, he may have been apprehended. When caught, these ILLEGAL invaders should NOT be allowed to walk out from court hoping that they return. Heck, they are breaking the law now and you expect them to suddenly want to abide by it? Rev. Raymond Tetrault, pastor of St. Teresa Church in Providence's Olneyville section at a protest of enforcing our borders during war time states "immigrants are coming to the country to work and are supporting the economy." Wow, he is right, if you count keeping the judicial system working and taxpayers paying and now a poor innocent US citizen irreparably harmed. Hey Rev, maybe an ILLEGAL can do you some permanent harm so you can turn your other cheek. I am in no such mood to do so. USA | June 14, 2008 4:55 AM link Does projo really feel this ad surrounding this article is appropriate especially when she was attacked in rogerwilliams park? Please consider how the victim feels if she were to be reading this ! The ad is the first thing i noticed when i opened up the article. melanie | June 14, 2008 5:33 AM link What a terrible ordeal for this woman. Why was he "scheduled" for deportation? If you are here unlawfully and the government knows where you are you should be picked up and given a hearing. If the hearing confirms you are here unlawfully, you are CONFINED until you are sent back. Now WE will PAY to house and feed this piece of dirt, hopefully, for a very long time. What a whacky scenario. What has happened to common sense. Jim | June 14, 2008 6:49 AM link Just another case of an innocent victim of an illegal immigrant. When will this country wake up to what's going on with the immigration situation and do something about it. We not only need one fence along the borders we need a double , barbed wire fence with a deep trench in between and patroled by National Guardsmen.Riz should be given a heavy sentence for his crimes and if released he should be deported. Our immigration laws are a joke and our politicians in Washington are not doing their job to stop this lunacy.Wake up America before it's to late. write to your representatives and let them know that, "enough is enough". Robert White | June 15, 2008 8:03 AM link This is why my mother always taught me to keep the car doors locked no matter where you are or who you're with...simply locking her doors would have saved her!!! Women need to be a little more paranoid in this country of random violence. B. R. | June 16, 2008 9:11 AM link The woman might have been pick out because she was there but Marco was walking around with a 12-inch knife. He was looking for that opportunity. Call/email your RI senator and demand the RI requires the use of Everify. It might have prevented this. remarks | June 23, 2008 11:12 PM link Post a commentPlease be civil. Vicious comments, personal attacks and profanity won't be published. Name and email are required; email address will not publish. |
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ProJo 9 to 5 News Blog
Oct 2005 - March 2006
and people wonder why ILLEGAL immigration is a problem. Being against ILLEGAL, criminal aliens DOES NOT mean that one is anti immigration, anti hispanic, etc. i live in warwick, have been in that plaza, and this story scares me to death.