Friday, Jun. 19, 2009

Rep. Costello's niece accused of harboring illegal immigrant

The niece of U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Belleville, was arrested on Friday on a federal charge of harboring an illegal immigrant who is a twice-convicted drug felon.

A federal grand jury indicted Deanna L. Costello, 42, of Fairmont City, on Wednesday on a charge that she concealed Rogelio Salaices Arnenales in October 2006.

David Gillies, Jerry Costello's spokesman, declined to comment.

Deanna Costello was being held in the St. Clair County Jail on Friday night.

Salaices-Arnenales, a Mexican national, was previously deported on Jan. 3, 2006, from Hidalgo, Texas, according to federal court records, after he was convicted of conspiracy to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine. He re-entered the country illegally on April 1, 2006, near Douglas, Ariz.

He was indicted again on Dec. 18, 2006, on federal conspiracy to distribute marijuana and cocaine and possession with intent to distribute marijuana.

During the course of the investigation, Salaices-Arnenales admitted that he was involved in the distribution of at least 140,000 grams of marijuana and at least 1,770 grams of cocaine.

Government agents overheard numerous drug-related telephone calls where Salaices-Arnenales arrived for pickup, transport and distribution of controlled substances, court records stated.

He also pleaded guilty charges of being an immigrant who illegally re-entered the country after deportation.

Salaices-Arnenales was sentenced to more than nine years.

Christopher Vital, 22, Deanna Costello's son, also was indicted as part of the drug conspiracy. He pleaded guilty and received three years in prison in 2008.

Deanna Costello is the daughter of Jerry Costello's brother, Joseph, who died in a boat fire in 1992. Jerry Costello is the former St. Clair County Board Chairman and currently serves as the U.S. Congressman from Illinois.

An arraignment date has not yet been scheduled for Deanna Costello.