A North Carolina detention officer is facing serious prison time after it was discovered that he forged signatures on at least 20 detention forms (that they know of). Not just any old signatures either - these were signatures of magistrates (public officials who have limited power to issue warrants and handle preliminary court cases). These officials can sign warrants to detain individuals in custody, allowing ICE to pick them up.
The Herald Sun is reporting that Detention Officer Michael Diehl, who had been with the department since 2008, was found to have forged documents to hold undocumented immigrants to allow ICE to pick them up.
The Sheriff's Office put out a statement on September 11th, saying:
“On Friday ... the Guilford County Magistrate’s Office notified the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office of a potentially forged court document submitted by GCSO Detention Officer Michael Diehl. Further review of jail booking records identified 19 additional ... forms associated with 19 additional inmates that contained allegedly forged signatures of magistrates.”
ICE detainers must be presented to - and signed by - magistrates. Then a form called an AOC-CR-662 gets issued, which allows inmates to be held for up to 48 hours for ICE agents.
The Sheriff's Office did note that “it appears that in each of these 20 cases, ICE had issued a detainer based on evidence that the inmate who was the subject of the detainer was in violation of United States immigration law."
This officer clearly felt that getting that signature was too cumbersome, so he just threw a forged signature on there and hoped no one would notice. Hopefully all of his past files and arrests are being reviewed. I guarantee that every public defender and private defense attorney in that county is salivating to subpoena him and his records. His stupid, selfish, reckless, and criminal actions may have the unintended consequence of overturning numerous convictions.
Diehl was fired and arrested after the discovery. He was released on a $5,000 bond.
I am sure ICE will be happy to hire him. Willing to break the law? CHECK! Denying the rights of undocumented immigrants? CHECK! Willing to go around judges and supervisors to hurt non-Americans? CHECK CHECK CHECK!
