Exclusive: Suspect in fatal Prince William County hit and run entered U.S. illegally

It took nearly two weeks to track him down but now police said they have their man.

A suspect is charged in a fatal hit and run crash that occurred at 5 o’clock in the morning on Wednesday, May 6 at the intersection of Sudley and Balls Ford roads near Manassas.

The driver of a Nissan Xterra, one of two vehicles that struck and killed 62-year-0ld Alberto Anthony Marino, of Bristow, was arrested at his workplace in Prince William County on Monday, May 18, said 1st Sgt. Jonathan Perok.

The driver struck the victim as he laid in the roadway after initially being struck by another vehicle described as a newer model, silver Toyota Corolla, said Perok. The victim had been trying to cross Sudley Road at the intersection of Balls Ford Road, and was not using a crosswalk when he was struck, police added.

The driver of the Xterra was identified from surveillance video obtained by police from a nearby gas station. The suspect was driving to Manassas for work on the morning of the crash, said Perok.

A senior law enforcement source tells Potomac Local News the suspect charged in this case entered the U.S. illegally. That determination was made after the suspect was brought to the Prince William County Adult Detention Center in Manassas.

Investigators are still seeking the identity of the driver in the Toyota Corolla that initially struck the victim. The car is likely to have damage to the passenger side of the front bumper and missing the passenger side mirror, police said.

Walner Alberto Pichinte Echeverria, 35, of 6502 Monarch Road in Frederick, Md. is charged with felony hit and run, said Perok.

Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to contact the Prince William County Police Department tipline at 703-792-7000 or submit a webtip to police.

This news follows a move by the Prince William Board of County Supervisors early this morning to appoint Virginia Delegate Elizabeth Guzman (D-31, Dale City, Fauquier) to the Prince William County Jail Board.

That board, headed by Prince William County Sheriff Glendell Hill, oversees the implementation of the 287(g) program which, in partnership with federal immigration and customs officials, identifies illegal aliens who have been charged with crimes in the community. If after they are charged with a crime and found to be in the U.S. illegally, jail officers hand over the inmate to federal customs officials.

In many cases where the suspect is wanted for serious crimes in their native countries, such as rape or murder, they are deported, a jail official told the Prince William Board of County Supervisors on Tuesday.

Guzman has vowed to abolish the 287(g) program in Virginia, and, in a 2017 interview with the Prince William Times, accused Prince William police officers of racial profiling by stopping her multiple times while she was driving in her neighborhood. She went on to accuse the department makes it a habit of profiling minorities to include people from the Middle East, Muslims, and “… anybody who didn’t look white.”

With more than 465,000 residents, Prince William is the second-largest jurisdiction in Virginia and more than half of the county’s population is either African American, Hispanic, Asian or some other racial/ethnic background, which is substantially higher compared to the state of Virginia and U.S., according to the county’s economic development office.

Guzman and two others were appointed to three open positions on the jail board in a party-line about 1:30 a.m., at the end of a 12-hour marathon meeting of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors.

Democrats voted for all three appointments while Republicans voted no. The three GOP members of the Board staunchly opposed Guzman but didn’t push back as hard on the two other candidates, Potomac Local News has learned.

Guzman’s approval came after Sheriff Hill spent more than an hour pleading with the Board of County Supervisors not to make an appointment to the jail board based on a controversial, political issue like illegal immigration.

“When I look at the 287(g), I looked at it as a bipartisan agreement,” said Hill, who campaigned on 287(g) during the 2019 November General Election and won a fifth term as county sheriff. “We worked with Democrats in the White House, we’ve worked with Republicans, and I would not get involved in a program that threatened the lives of people.

The two others who were appointed to fill open positions on the jail board are Rev. Cozy Bailey, the husband of the duly elected Prince Willliam County Potomac District Supervisor Andrea Bailey, and Tracy Lennox, an attorney, and president of the Prince William County Bar Association.

Lennox competed in a Democratic Primary Election last year vying to replace retiring Commonwealth Attorney Paul Ebert, who held the position since 1968. Despite winning his endorsement, Lennox lost to now sitting Commonwealth Attorney Amy Ashworth, who successfully campaigned on criminal justice reform.

Lisa Johnson Firth, a Manassas immigration attorney, Richard Mattox, a congressional lobbyist for the MEDCO-Express Scripts pharmaceutical company, and Zalouteacha Jackson, who was Alexandria sheriff’s deputy in the late 1980s and now works for FEMA, will serve as alternates.