LIMA — Following a triple fatal car crash and a search for a possible child rapist — both connected to the local Hispanic community — Sheriff Daniel Beck has decided to form a “working group” to address what he sees as a potential crime problem.
   Beck said he is concerned with a growing population of illegal immigrants, which he said was as high as 75 percent based on information from an interpreter from his office who is part of the Hispanic community, he said.
   “In five years, if we do not work on this issue, it will be the single most significant issue from a crime and quality-of-life standpoint in this county,” Beck said. “We want to work as best as we can to get this curtailed before it becomes a problem.”
   The interpreter also estimated Allen County has a Hispanic population today as high as 4,000, Beck said.
   Data from the 2000 Census showed Allen County reported 1.4 percent of its population or 1,518 people were of Hispanic origin. That number for the city of Lima is 802 people or 2 per-cent.
   One person familiar with the Hispanic community is Nola Heilman, who helps organize vari-ous local celebrations of Hispanic heritage.
   Heilman said even though she was familiar with some aspects of the Hispanic community, she did not feel comfortable talking about some of the concerns Beck addressed. She, however, said she does not see the community as a problem of concern but rather a valuable resource others should tap into.
   “From my experience it is more of an asset,” she said.
   Beck said he is in no way saying the community as a whole is bad. He said there are many good, hard-working Hispanics. He even said he believes most of the Hispanics illegally in the county are generally good people but said he is concerned with some who may pose a risk to public safety.
   The group Beck is forming might meet for the first time in early September and will be available to help local businesses weed out illegal immigrants who use false identification to find jobs.
   Beck’s group will have deputies trained to identify false forms of identification for local em-ployers who have concerns about the citizenship of an employee, he said.
   The Allen County sheriff said he has talked with residents and employers, hearing many ex-press concerns of the citizenship status of their work force. Many employers do not have training to spot fraudulent forms of identification, he said.
   With computers and other means, duplicating a driver’s license, Social Security card or birth certificate is easily accomplished, he said.
   Beck said his eyes were opened to the issue after an apparent drunken driver crashed, killing three of his four passengers July 24. The man, Victor Anaya, is Hispanic. His four passengers all were illegal immigrants, Beck said.
   The second issue was the search for Alfredo Cruz, who was wanted in connection with the rape of a 9-year-old girl in Hamilton. Cruz was spotted numerous times in Lima in June mix-ing in with local Hispanics, but police never caught up with him, Beck said.
   It was while investigating those two incidents that Beck said he realized there were more Hispanics locally and more illegal immigrants than he ever knew existed.
   “The light bulb really came on,” he said. “It’s a very big problem.”
   Beck’s group will help target illegal immigrants working under false identification, he said. Those people can be arrested and charge with a felony, and Beck’s department will push to have them deported, he said.
   Beck said his greatest concern is a jump in the crime rate. Beck said most local Hispanics are from Mexico and he fears criminal gangs from Mexico could make their way to Lima. Those gangs are well-known in law enforcement circles for their ruthless violence and disrespect for the law, he said.
   So far, reported crime in the Hispanic community for the most part has been minor with crimes such as public intoxication, drunken driving and domestic violence, the sheriff said.
   But Beck said those are only the crimes that are reported and doesn’t included crimes that go unreported, especially by illegal immigrants.
   “They do not want to draw attention to themselves so they don’t report the crimes. Then they tend to take the law into their own hands,” he said