East Hampton Town police have arrested a 49-year-old local resident on three counts of rape following a domestic dispute call, in a case that has become entangled with an ongoing political fight over the town’s immigration policies.
Police identified the suspect as Wilfrido Alberto Maurath Tacuri. According to News 12, officers were called to a home on Muir Boulevard for a domestic dispute, and the investigation that followed led detectives to the rape allegations. Maurath Tacuri was taken into custody on Nov. 6.
Each of the three charges alleges rape by forcible compulsion, a Class B felony under New York law. He was held at police headquarters ahead of a scheduled arraignment in East Hampton Town Justice Court on Friday.
The Department of Homeland Security told the New York Post that Maurath Tacuri is in the country illegally and that officials do not know when or where he entered the United States.
Sanctuary Laws Under Scrutiny
The arrest comes months after East Hampton Town and East Hampton Village each passed separate measures limiting local cooperation with federal authorities on civil immigration enforcement. The village adopted its ordinance in April, and the town followed in May.
The village law also restricts how local license plate reader data can be used for federal civil immigration enforcement. Town officials have said the measure was intended to build trust between police and immigrant residents.
Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY) has said he will oppose federal earmarks for East Hampton Town and Village unless both repeal their laws, putting roughly $9 million in requested project funding at stake. He has argued that restrictions on sharing license plate data could prevent local officials from helping federal agents locate someone with a final removal order and pending sexual assault charges.
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