BY ANNIKA MENGISEN
Correspondent
The Jackson resident who was arrested in Manalapan on June 8 in connection with the attempted purchase of fertilizer at a garden supply store has been turned over to federal immigration authorities.
Alberto Sanchez-Lopez, 32, was arrested in Manalapan on June 8 and charged with obstruction of the administration of the law and hindering apprehension. His arrest followed an incident in which he and another man reportedly attempted to purchase a 25-pound bag of fertilizer at Reed and Perrine in the Tennent section of Manalapan, according to information provided by police.
Sanchez-Lopez was placed in the Monmouth County jail, Freehold Town-ship, after his arrest.
Law enforcement authorities have been alert to the purchase of fertilizer since 1995 when Timothy McVeigh fashioned a bomb containing fertilizer and used the device to blow up a federal government building in Oklahoma.
Sanchez-Lopez told Greater Media Newspapers that his friend wanted to buy the fertilizer to use in his garden.
Monmouth County Undersheriff Clifford Daniels told Greater Media Newspapers on Monday that Sanchez-Lopez posted $10,000 bail on the Manalapan charges on June 25 and was released from the county jail into the custody of the federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE).
Daniels had no further information about where BICE may have placed Sanchez-Lopez.
A spokesman for Monmouth County Prosecutor John Kaye told Greater Media Newspapers last week that the prosecutor is not commenting on the case.
A spokesman for BICE previously said an agent from the bureau has been assigned the task of determining Sanchez-Lopez’s immigration status in the United States.
Relatives of Sanchez-Lopez told Greater Media Newspapers he has been in the United States for almost a decade, living in California and New Jersey.