Cuban poses as lawyer handling immigrant cases

[April 22, 2009]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A Cuban national who spent months awaiting deportation at a Los Angeles immigration detention center is accused of posing as a lawyer after his release and representing immigrants in court.

Raul Ernest Alonso-Prieto was detained for months at the San Pedro Processing Center before his release in December 2006 because the United States doesn't have diplomatic relations with Cuba and he couldn't be deported.

A 22-count federal grand jury indictment says the 60-year-old Alonso-Prieto pretended to be an attorney named Kenneth Robert-Murphy Peterson, and used the California Bar number of a lawyer with a similar name.

The indictment says Alonso-Prieto recruited immigrants at the detention center and charged between $500 and $2,500 for his services.

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Information from: The Daily Breeze, http://www.dailybreeze.com/

[Associated Press]

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