Nor did he expect the bail-bonds specialist, who promised to have the brother released in two days, to stop returning the family’s calls after family members wired $1,300 to the specialist. A month later, his girlfriend’s brother is still in custody, awaiting a hearing. He was never eligible for bond in the first place.

The way in which Ochoa’s girlfriend, Irma Ceja, and her San Diego family lost their money is new but not surprising.

Officials from Catholic Charities in San Diego, which normally limits its referral list to attorneys, acknowledge that a volunteer made a mistake. Nonetheless, the money appears to be gone.

“For a lot of people, $1,300 isn’t much,” said Ceja, 43, who raised the money with several relatives. “But for us, it is.”

Ceja and her family were desperate to help her brother, who was placed in custody Feb. 4 at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Otay Mesa, pending deportation to Mexico. Her brother was in the country illegally, said Ceja, a U.S. citizen.

Through her church, Ceja obtained a number for a local immigration-services office of Catholic Charities. Ochoa made the call.

Ochoa said the woman who answered gave him the numbers of four or five attorneys, along with a long-distance number for someone named Star Hernandez, who he was told was not a lawyer but specialized in bail bonds.

“I started with the attorneys, but no one was around, so I left messages with their secretaries,” said Ochoa, 56, a correctional officer at a state prison in Imperial County. “Then I called Star Hernandez.”

Ochoa said he left a message, and his call was returned promptly. The woman, who identified herself as Hernandez, said the family would need to wire her $1,300 and the wire-service fee, which Ceja said came to $100. Family members said Hernandez, who also called herself Estrella – Spanish for star – promised she could get Ceja’s brother out as soon as Wednesday, two days later.

Seven members of Ceja’s family scraped together the money and wired it to a Western Union office in Oregon. Soon afterward, Hernandez stopped returning their calls.

The family has since learned that Jesús Ceja Alvarez, Ceja’s brother, is ineligible for bond because of prior convictions.

Ochoa, Ceja and her family have concluded they were duped. They felt worse to learn that Jesús Ceja gave the number of the supposed bail-bonds specialist to a fellow detainee. His family wired $2,000 to Hernandez, who has stopped returning their calls as well.

“I have left so many voice messages, text messages,” said Maria Martinez, 18, of Vista, the man’s sister. “She won’t answer.”

A rudimentary Web site advertises “help with immigration bonds” and “free service,” with Star Hernandez as a contact at the number the families called.

The same name and number pop up in recent postings on other Web sites as those of a Star Hernandez seeking $10,000 for her detained husband’s bond.

“I need money by 9 am tomorrow 2/17/09 . . . My husband is going to be deported if i don’t pay his immigration bond . . . Ask for Star Hernandez,” reads a post on Oodle.com.

A longer message seeking $10,000 to pay a bond for “my Mexican husband” appeared on Help.com two weeks ago.

Contacted the day after that message was posted, a woman who identified herself as Star Hernandez responded briefly to questions.

“I’m trying to help raise money for a lot of people,” she said, adding that her husband was no longer in detention. “He got out a long time ago.”

When asked about her post the previous day seeking money to post bond for her husband, the woman hung up.

According to Oregon court records, there is a 38-year-old woman named Star Maxine Hernandez who was convicted in the 1990s of unlawfully obtaining public assistance and forgery in two separate cases.

Robert Moser, deputy director of Catholic Charities in San Diego, said a Star Hernandez with the same number called the social service agency, offering bail-bond services for free. While staff members are instructed only to refer people to qualified attorneys, a receptionist took down her contact information, Moser said.

After investigating, Moser learned that a new volunteer was staffing the front desk the afternoon Ochoa called.

“When (Ochoa) called us, that volunteer gave out that number,” Moser said. The volunteer, he said, “had no idea.”

The list of professionals used for referrals has been reviewed, Moser said, as has protocol for giving referrals by phone.

Ceja said she reported the incident to San Diego police, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement is investigating.

Here’s a site to check out:

http://www.lawhelp.org/

It’s unwise to post your personal contact details on an open site like this. You really don’t need more problems from rogue mail and calls !

God bless you and please have a soft heart and try not to be so mean.