Gov. Kay Ivey touts arrest of Honduran man without legal status in traffic stop

Gov. Kay Ivey touted in a post on X Friday that a Honduran man in the state without authorization was arrested in a string of traffic stops intended to reduce violent crimes.

Roberto Steven Martinez Benavides was charged with second-degree forgery in Montgomery on Tuesday in “an operation concerning the delivery of a vehicle for purchase with a fraudulent VIN and fraudulent title.”

Amanda Wasden, director of external affairs for the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, said in an email that the Metro Area Crime Suppression Unit (MACS) helped the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) by conducting a traffic stop on the vehicle with the alleged fraudulent VIN.

Benavides is being held in the Montgomery County Jail. He has a hold for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) so that HSI can determine if he is eligible for deportation or further action.

“Another strong week for Alabama’s Metro Area Crime Suppression Unit in our Capital City — 63 traffic stops, 51 arrest warrants and 15 other arrests. One individual arrested is an illegal. We’ve turned him over to the feds to be deported,” Ivey posted on X.

MACS is a coalition of local, state and federal agencies that work to reduce violent crimes and “seek to obtain prosecutions for violations such as organized crime, drug conspiracy, robbery, motor vehicle theft and firearms violations.”