Fairfield police initiated a traffic stop, stating he did not use his turn signal and entered the wrong lane when entering Ohio State Route 4. Daniel Flores, of Indianapolis, Indiana, was pulling out of the plaza where the establishment is located.
Flores told Fairfield police officers he was coming from Indiana to take Ortiz-Soto, who he called his girlfriend, home. Officers said he was seen pulling out of the plaza where the Sabor operation was being conducted, and he said he was turning around to access a gas station.
Officers didn’t seem to believe the story Flores gave them. They said he was traveling in the opposite direction from where he indicated.
Credit: Fairfield PD
Marlen Ortiz-Soto, 24, was pulled out of a pickup truck owned by Daniel Flores at 11:50 p.m. Aug. 16 by a pair of federal agents, one from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the other from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
In a video given to our news partners, WCPO, the interaction between Flores and Ortiz-Soto and the federal agents was combative and argumentative. Flores repeatedly asked the agents to identify themselves, which they said they already had. Ortiz-Soto appeared scared.
Once out of the vehicle, though, tensions seemed to calm. Though she fought from being pulled out of the pickup truck, Ortiz-Soto did not resist or fight the federal agents as they put a pair of handcuffs on her, according to the video the Journal-News obtained from the Fairfield Police Department.
The Sabor operation, which was conducted in the parking lot of the establishment on Aug. 16, was to address the problems Fairfield police have had with patrons’ behavior since at least 2021, according to Fairfield authorities. There were 39 arrests made, five of which were during traffic stops, such as the one made with Flores and Ortiz-Soto.
Federal agents said they had probable cause to believe Ortiz-Soto was in the country illegally, which is why they took her into custody.
Ortiz-Soto is on a holder at the Butler County Jail for the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, while Flores was issued two citations, one for the traffic violations and one for obstructing official business. Flores held Ortiz-Soto back in an attempt to stop federal authorities from removing the 24-year-old from the vehicle.
There were two shootings earlier this year and a stabbing in 2022 reported at Sabor Peruano. Fairfield Police Chief Steve Maynard said the department had officials meet with the owners about the issues in 2021. Issues have been consistent complaints from area businesses about patrons spilling into the parking lot, fighting and driving drunk, and causing property damage.
In the past year, police officers have been called out more than 40 times to Sabor Peruano.
Krishna Mahadevan, Ortiz-Soto’s attorney, told WCPO that her client “is extremely scared in this video. She doesn’t know what’s happening. She’s not being told what’s happening.”
Ortiz-Soto was led away from the pickup truck to an SUV near the back of a line of police vehicles by the two federal agents. They left the scene a few minutes before midnight.
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