Starting on Sept. 25 and through the presidential election, we have been telling readers about different inmates with ICE detainers who are accused of committing serious crimes in Wisconsin. We are highlighting a range of serious crimes.

FILE #16

The Defendant: Obilio Thomas Sargento Robrelo

The Jail: Pulaski County Regional Detention Facility in Little Rock, Arkansas (held on fugitive arrest for Wisconsin authorities)

The Charges: Hit and Run resulting in death (felony). Faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison if convicted

Date and Place of Offense: October 25, 2024, in the Town of Gillett, Oconto County, Wisconsin

The Victim: Retired Green Bay Police Officer Tom Roberts (served from 2000-2018)

Ice Detainer:

Past Cases in Wisconsin: None.

The Details:

ICE has placed a jail hold on Obilio Thomas Sargento Robrelo, the man accused of killing retired Green Bay Police Officer Tom Roberts (served from 2000-2018) by running into his ATV with an SUV, Wisconsin Right Now can exclusively report. A criminal complaint says that Robrelo took off on foot without trying to help the dying Roberts and made his way to Arkansas, where he was taken into custody after diligent police work by the Oconto County Sheriff’s Department. According to the complaint, Robrelo, who had worked at a dairy farm in Wisconsin, was trying to make his way to Mexico.

Oconto County Sheriff Todd Skarban told WRN that the department believes Sargento Roblero’s significant other came to the U.S. on a visa and “overstayed it.” It’s not clear yet when and where Sargento Roblero entered the country as the investigation is fresh. He called Roberts “a wonderful salt of the earth guy.”

The Green Bay Police Department, where Roberts was a retired officer, described him as “loved by everyone who had the privilege of knowing him. His kind and caring spirit shone brightly.” He participated in a 9/11 Memorial bike ride.

According to the criminal complaint filed in Wisconsin:

On Friday, Oct. 25, deputies with the Oconto County Sheriff’s Office responded to the Town of Gillett in Oconto County for an accident involving a car and an ATV. When they arrived, the victim was lying on the ground and wasn’t breathing The ATV was lying on its side and there was a silver SUV with front end damage in the middle of the road. The driver had fled the scene on foot. He was identified as Obilio Tomas Sargento Roblero, 32. EMS tried to revive the victim to no avail.

The victim was wearing a helmet, was not moving and there was blood coming from his mouth and ears.

A K9 handler with dog started to track Obilio and they found fresh footprints north of the accident scene along the edge of a cornfield and tree line. Drones were also used. After the search was unsuccessful authorities interviewed Obilio’s wife Glademy Morales in the City of Gillett. His brother-in-law Reynol Morales Velazquez was also there.

There was a language barrier so the deputy spoke with both in Spanish. Glademy stated that Obilio “recently took a job at a dairy farm,” and a deputy found a recent check stub from Triple C Dairy. Authorities went to the dairy but did not find Obilio.

Officers spoke with two witnesses who said their Polaris UTV had broken down on the ATV trail and the victim pulled up and offered to help them by towing their UTV. He hooked up the tow strap and got on his ATV when he was struck by the westbound silver GMC Acadia. His front tires may have been on the paved surface. One witness observed a man exit the GMC and run away.

There was a can of Modelo Beer on the passenger seat of the GMC and a Samsung cell phone.

At that point, a person named SHW contacted authorities to say he might have information on the crash. He said that a Wilmer, Raberto, Simmon, and Antoni are Hispanic workers on his farm and Roblero was a past employee of his. A girlfriend of one of the males had been in contact with his lead Hispanic employee, Jose Daniel Cruz Garcia, the complaint alleged.

The complaint further alleged that:

The girlfriend had told Jose Daniel that the other males had not been truthful about Obilio’s whereabouts.  It was discovered he showed up at the address where those workers live looking for help.

The wife told authorities that she and Obilio have been living in Wisconsin for about eight years and moved to Gillett from the Merrill area. Sometimes he would drive co-workers to stores because they don’t have vehicles.

He sent her a message around 6:19 p.m. that read in Spanish, “In a while, I’ll arrive as a taxi driver haha.”

The deputy located pay stubs from L & N Hardwoods Inc located in Shawano and Triple CCC Dairy LLC located in the Town of Oconto Falls.

A woman eventually told police she saw the suspect at the house where the workers lived. She advised that he was very nervous and appeared to be very scared. Obilio told her that he was involved in an accident and that the police were looking for him. As they were talking, she received a phone call from Glademy. She then advised her that her husband had just walked into the house, and gave him her phone so they could talk. She stated that she then walked away to give them some privacy. She added that she overheard Obilio saying something about having to leave the area or disappear. He then left.

When confronted by deputies about this information, Glademy began to cry and stated that she had in fact talked to Obilio on Friday night. She stated that he told her that it was an accident, but that the police would not believe him. Obilio then told her that he was driving his vehicle home when a deer came out of the woods. He then swerved to the left in order to avoid hitting the deer. It was at this time that he saw two UTV’s on the side of the road with no lights on.

Obilio stated to her that he didn’t have time to stop, and struck one of the UTV’s. He told her that he panicked, got out of the vehicle and ran. He told her that he ran for some time in the woods, and eventually arrived at the home on Church Rd in Shawano County. Glademy stated that they decided to contact another cousin by the name of IMP who currently lives in Mexico for assistance in getting Obilio out of the area. Obilio at that time told her that he was located in the Madison area. He told her to leave the Country and go back to Mexico, to which she told him that she was not leaving and that she wanted to stay in Gillett, WI, the complaint said.

Another person then called a friend she has in WI, who provided her with the name and number of an individual that specializes in transporting people throughout the States. She stated that she spoke with a male and asked him if he could pick up Obilio in Green Bay. The male told her that he was close to Green Bay and that he could take Obilio.

A short time later, officers in Arkansas took Obilio in custody.

A press release from the Oconto County Sheriff said the fatal accident happened around 7 p.m.

“The operator of the ATV, identified as Thomas Roberts, age 60, Green Bay was struck by an SUV being operated by Obilio Thomas Sargento Robrelo age 32, who resided in the City of Gillett,” the release said.

“Lifesaving measures were attempted however, Mr. Roberts died on scene as a result of injuries sustained in the crash.”

That release says Robrelo was located at a hotel in Jacksonville, Arkansas, and is awaiting extradition back to Oconto County.

“All our love and prayers go out to the Robert’s family as they mourn the loss of a beloved husband, father, and retired City of Green Bay Police Officer. Godspeed Tom, and thank you for all you have done in service to the people in our community,” Sheriff Skarban wrote.

Border security – and the weak immigration policies of Kamala Harris and Tammy Baldwin – have become a key topic in the presidential election. Every state is a border state.

“Although no federal law requires cooperation with ICE, many state and local laws, and sometimes court rulings, regulate compliance with ICE detainers,” The Immigrant Legal Resource Center says. Some states have made compliance mandatory, but Wisconsin is not one of them.

“Legally, the requirement of probable cause means ICE can only issue a detainer against (a) a noncitizen, who (b) is already ‘removable.’ A removable noncitizen is someone who can be put in removal proceedings for possible deportation,” the center says.

“ICE describes a detainer as a request to a ‘law enforcement agency to notify ICE before a removable individual is released from custody and to maintain custody of the noncitizen for a brief period so that ICE can take custody of that person,'” Trac says.

Detainers “are critical for ICE to be able to identify and ultimately remove criminal aliens who are currently in federal, state or local custody,” ICE says. ICE detainers ask local law enforcement to hold a non-citizen inmate for 48 hours before release into the community so ICE can pick them up.

ICE Detainers Plunge Under Biden-Harris

Illegal immigrants committing crimes is not a story that the corporate media and Vice President Kamala Harris want to tell, especially as border crossings have surged.

Under Biden/Harris, the number of U.S Border Patrol “encounters with migrants crossing into the United States from Mexico in December 2023” hit “the highest monthly total on record,” according to Pew Research Center.

The Biden administration issued just under 300,000 detainers from 2021 through the first quarter of 2024, a rising number, according to Trac Immigration, a project of Syracuse University. However, “overall 50 percent more ICE detainers were issued during the Trump presidency (FY 2017 – FY 2020),” Trac says.  

Inmates with detainers are only the people that ICE discovers and where ICE decides to act. Some jails, such as Dane County’s, don’t honor all ICE detainers and don’t give ICE 48 hours to pick up the inmates before release. At the other end of the spectrum stands a jail like Waukesha County, where the sheriff received federal immigration authority through a program called 287g.

ICE detainers “are often used as one indicator of the intensity of what is called ‘interior enforcement’ in contrast to ‘border enforcement,’ Trac writes.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “has long claimed that detainers, often called ‘immigration holds,’ are an essential tool needed to apprehend and deport individuals not authorized to remain in the U.S.,” the site says. “Detainers are supposed to be targeted at noncitizens who have committed crimes here in the U.S.”

In addition, the U.S. Border Patrol has arrested more than 15,000 criminal non-citizens in 2024 alone, including 27 murderers and 202 people for sexual offenses. But those are just the people they catch.

From 2006 to 2023, ICE placed detainers on more than 14,000 non-citizens living in Wisconsin, Trac says.

The first year of Biden-Harris saw the lowest numbers of ICE detainers issued since at least 2006. The Milwaukee and Dane County Jails had the most ICE detainers issued of any jurisdictions in Wisconsin during the time frame below, according to Trac.

The corporate media tend to focus on studies that show illegal immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than non-citizens or they focus mostly on the other side of the coin – say, illegal immigrants whose labor helps keep dairy farms alive. The citizens who committed crimes had a right to be here; illegal immigrants did not. A tougher border policy might have prevented illegal immigrant crimes from occurring in the first place. The stories are worth telling.