Police: Illegal Immigrant Charged in Machete Assault Cases

Fugitive investigators with the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department arrested a 26-year-old man they say is an illegal immigrant and was wanted for assaulting two men with a machete on two separate incidents in 2008 and 2009.

Lexington County Sheriff James R. Metts said Jose Hernandez Mendez, 26, of 101 Topaz Court, Lot 14, Lexington, turned himself in to fugitive investigators on Wednesday.

Mendez was wanted on charges of assault and battery with intent to kill, and assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature.

An arrest warrant alleges that around 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 20, 2008, Mendez hit Donnie Moore several times on Moore’s back with the flat side of a machete at a home at 6037 Edmund Highway near Gaston, Metts said.

Another arrest warrant alleges that around 5:30 p.m. on May 5, 2009, Mendez cut Victor Gomez-Alvarez on the head and left hand using a machete while at a home at 210 Rolling Fox Road near Lexington.

Specially trained correctional officers at the Lexington County Detention Center, who enforce federal immigration laws under the supervision of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), determined that Mendez illegally entered the United States from Mexico, Metts said.

The officers placed a detainer on Mendez with ICE, pending further action. Mendez is currently being held at the Lexington County Detention Center.