Man charged with four counts of felony forgery

Published 6:49 am Tuesday, March 30, 2010

An Austin man faces aggravated forgery charges after police picked him up for reported suspicious activity at the library.

Valente Hernandez-Bautista, 22, faces four counts of the felony-level offense and awaits an April 8 arraignment. He was charged Friday.

According to a criminal complaint, police were called to the Austin Public Library at around 7:45 p.m. Thursday on a report of a man trying to get young girls into his car in the parking lot.

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When police arrived, they were unable to find the suspect at the library. However, they were able to track the reported license plate number to Hernandez-Bautista and his residence on the 500 block of Second Street Northwest.

After staking out his residence, police were able to confront Hernandez-Bautista when he arrived later that night, the complaint states. Through a police interpreter, Hernandez-Bautista said he had been at the library but said he simply said “hello” to several girls. He added that he didn’t know why a complaint was made.

During this conversation, an officer noticed a Quality Pork Processors paystub in the name “Errain Gomez” sitting on a table. The officer asked Hernandez-Bautista if anyone else lived at the home. Hernandez-Bautista said two people did, but neither were “Gomez.”

The officer then asked Hernandez-Bautista if he was “Gomez.” The defendant said he wasn’t, but he did admit to going by “Rafael” when asked if he used any other names.

Hernandez-Bautista then proceeded to show officers a Missouri ID in the name “Rafael Cabido, Jr.,” the complaint states. He also provided a Social Security card, birth certificate and Northwoods Foods paystub in the same name.

Hernandez-Bautista said he bought the Social Security card and birth certificate for $800, then used them to obtain Minnesota and Missouri IDs. He claimed he had lost the Minnesota ID, though a records search did indicate that a Minnesota ID with Hernandez-Bautista’s picture was issued in the “Cabido, Jr.” name.

It is unclear from the complaint if authorities believe Hernandez-Bautista was using the “Gomez” name to work at QPP, or if the paystub belonged to someone else.