Four members of the crew working to replace the gym floor at the Chester Hynes Community Center were found Tuesday to be “illegally in the country,” according to a Pine Bluff Police Department report on the incident.
The Chester Hynes Community Center is owned by the city and public money is being used to fund the project, which was bid by Sports Floors Inc. of Memphis, Tenn., for an original bid of $35,737, although the price has increased since that time with add-ons to the project. The total was not available Tuesday.
Mayor Carl A. Redus Jr. said Tuesday evening that there were no arrests associated with the incident.
City Public Works Coordinator Larry Matthews said he has spoken to the owner of the company, who told him that all the employees are legal. Redus and Matthews declined to identify the person to whom they were referring.
“As far as we’re concerned, everything is fine,” Matthews said.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Redus said there will be no changes to the project.
“Why should there be, unless we get any information that there is a problem?” Redus said.
Both said they had not seen the police reports on the incident.
According to a police report by Deputy Chief Danna S. Powell, she was driving on Harding Avenue at about 7:53 a.m. Tuesday and was about to turn onto State Street when a white Dodge truck that was driving westbound ran a yield sign and almost hit her, forcing her to come to a complete stop in order to avoid an accident.
She pulled over the vehicle and spoke with the driver, Pedro Salazar Gallegos, 43, who gave her a work order that listed the Chester Hynes Community Center. Gallegos was given a warning citation for failure to yield.
“Mr. Gallegos said he was working at Chester Hynes putting down a basketball floor,” Powell stated in her report. “The piece of paper indicated Sports Floors Inc. … out of Memphis, TN, was the company that was responsible for doing the work who was Mr. Gallegos’ employer. I asked Mr. Gallegos if he had a work visa or a passport and he did not have either one. Mr. Gallegos said he was sorry and he admitted to not being here legally.
“Mr. Gallegos said he had three other employees that were working at Chester Hynes that were also here illegally. Officer [Christopher] Wieland assisted me in going to Chester Hynes where he discovered that there were three additional illegal aliens from Mexico,” Powell stated in her report.
The names of the three other individuals are Salomon Flores-Hernandez, Benjamin Rodriquez-Yanez and Nelson Espinoza, according to the reports. Wieland stated in his report that Hernandez said he had been in the United States for three or four years, Rodriquez-Yanez said eight years, Espinoza said four years and Gallegos said 12 years.
“Mr. Gallegos stated he crossed the Border of Mexico [into] the US in 2000,” Wieland stated in his report. “Mr. Gallegos stated he did not have a VISA or Work VISA.”
Powell stated in her report that she contacted Larry Matthews, who was listed as the job site contact person. He asked what he should do, and Powell advised him to contact Redus.
Powell stated that she also spoke with Assistant City Attorney Joe Childers, who advised her that the police were obligated to contact immigration authorities about the incident. Powell contacted immigration officials and was told to run an Immigration and Naturalization Service criminal inquiry through the National Crime Information Center on the individuals.
Powell’s report ends there and Wieland’s report contains the subsequent events.
“[The immigration agent] stated if they have no prior history of criminal activity or prior illegal entry into the US, they could not do anything,” Wieland stated in his report. “[The agent] advised if we had charges on them he could do something.”
Wieland’s report concludes that the criminal history checks were made, but the results are redacted. PBPD spokesman Capt. Greg Shapiro said that the city attorney’s office had advised him that past criminal history was exempt from disclosure under the state Freedom of Information Act.
The reports also include an account from Officer Gregory Will, who observed Powell and Wieland during the traffic stop and the visit to Chester Hynes. He also reported that the four men were found to be in the country illegally.
Parks and Recreation Department Director Angela Parker said Tuesday evening at about 6:30 p.m., according to the time stamp on her cell phone of when the conversation took place, that she had not been made aware of the incident.
A reporter visited Chester Hynes on Tuesday night. Workers were still visible on site, as was a white Dodge truck.
Redus was then contacted and at first denied knowledge of the situation.
“I don’t know of any illegal aliens,” Redus said, laughing. “When y’all find some illegal aliens, you let me know. I suggest you let the U.S. Army know too.”
The reporter then repeated the question, using different terminology and referring to the fact that the newspaper had already obtained a copy of the police report.
“I am aware of that,” Redus said. “Parks and Rec will provide me with a report on it tomorrow as soon as they finish the investigation.”
Redus was asked if he was speaking of Parker and was informed that Parker had said she had not been made aware of the incident until contacted by The Commercial. Redus said he was referring to Parker.
Originally, a different company and different type of flooring had been selected by Parks staff, but that proposal was pulled from the City Council agenda and the project was re-bid at the request of Redus. Sports Floors was the low bidder in the second round of bids. The council selected the original low bidder, but Redus vetoed their selection. The council then allocated the funding to the Parks and Recreation Commission, leaving it up to them which contractor to choose. Parks staff and the Parks and Recreation Commission ultimately chose Sports Floors.
Discussion about the gym floors spanned several council and commission meetings and was heated at times. At one of the meetings, both Alderman Thelma Walker and Alderman Wayne Easterly made comments that the bids from Sports Floors seemed suspiciously low and could suggest problems with the quality of work.
The bids were divided by type of flooring for comparison. In each category that Sports Floors bid, they gave the lowest bids. Each were $8,800 to $23,000 less than the next lowest bidder in each category.
At the time, Redus dismissed Walker and Easterly’s concerns. He was asked about them again Tuesday.
“I don’t think anything’s been defined as being wrong at this particular point in time. Give us time to do the investigation. … At this particular point and time, nothing’s been discovered,” Redus said.
He called back shortly afterward with Matthews also on the line and then provided the quotes cited at the beginning of the article.