Sheriff: Hit-and-run driver ‘voluntarily' deported last fall

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By Christian Boone

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

An illegal immigrant arrested five times for driving offenses, including a 2005 hit-and-run that ultimately left an elderly Dacula man dead, was voluntarily deported last October, the Gwinnett County Sheriff's office said Monday. Whether he will be involuntarily deported following his latest charge remains uncertain.

Gwinnett Co. Jail Celso Campo-Duartes was convicted of running over a World War II vet in 2005. The victim's family is surprised the illegal immigrant is still in the country after serving his sentence.

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"He either didn’t leave the country as agreed or he left and came back," said sheriff's spokeswoman Stacey Bourbonnais. Added Sheriff Butch Conway, "they put him on the honor system, more or less."

Celso Campo-Duartes' current whereabouts are no mystery. He's been in Gwinnett's custody since May 28, when he was charged with disorderly conduct and unlicensed driving. He would have been eligible for a $1,983 bond had he not violated probation.

The repercussions of violating his voluntary deportation -- which permits an individual to exit the country at his or her own expense within a designated amount of time -- could be much more severe.

Boston attorney Joshua Goldstein, who writes a blog on immigration law, wrote recently that "the consequences of failing to comply with a voluntary departure order may be worse than deportation itself." Penalties include fines of $3,000 along with a 10-year bar from any appeal or adjustment of a removal order, or change of status.

The Gwinnett sheriff has placed a hold on Campo-Duartes under 287(g), a partnership with the federal government that trains deputies to identify illegal immigrants in the county jail, then hand them over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for possible deportation.

ICE spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez said she couldn't discuss the specifics of Campos-Duarte's case without his permission. Conway said he hopes Campo-Duartes, who is from Mexico, will be deported, "but that's not my decision to make," he told the AJC.

In January 2008, the suspect entered a negotiated plea to a charge of failure to stop at or return to the scene of an accident in the death of Aubrey Sosebee, an 83-year-old World War II veteran who was run over by the plumber as he was retrieving his mail. Campo-Duartes was sentenced to two years in prison and three years of probation and was released for time served.

A little more than a year ago, he was arrested for driving without a license and released the same day on $760 bond. In October, he was arrested on the same charge.

--Staff writer Andria Simmons contributed to this report.