An illegal alien involved in a recent vehicle accident near Tunnel Hill is employed by the city of Calhoun, City Administrator Eddie Peterson confirmed Wednesday. The city hired Jose Jorge Patino-Monroy in 2000 as a maintenance worker at Fields Ferry Golf Club, Peterson said in a written release.

Larry Stewart, 61, of Rocky Face was driving a motorcycle and suffered a broken femur and two crushed ankles when Patino-Monroy pulled in front him in a 2003 Chevrolet S-10 pickup on Highway 41 in Tunnel Hill, officials said. Stewart’s granddaughter who was riding on back, Baylee Martin, 7, sustained abrasions and cuts on one leg that required stitches.

Patino-Monroy, 26, of 3720 Water Tower Lane in Tunnel Hill, was denied bond by Judge William Boyett in Whitfield County Superior Court on Tuesday. He is charged by the Georgia State Patrol with leaving the scene of an accident, driving without a valid license, failure to yield right of way after stopping at a stop sign, failure to report an accident with injuries, driving on the wrong side of the road and causing serious injury by vehicle. He is on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) hold at the county jail, a spokeswoman said.

Public Defender Brandon Sparks asked Boyett to consider an $8,000 bond.

“Mr. Patino-Monroy has lived in the Dalton area the last seven years,” he said. “If he is able to make bond, he will be living at a Tunnel Hill address. He is married with a 2-year-old son who is ill with a heart condition. This is his first arrest, and he is currently employed as a landscaper.”

When Boyett asked Sparks who the landscaper is, and the question was translated to Patino-Monroy, Sparks replied that the employer is the city of Calhoun for the last 10 years.

“At that time, he presented the required documentation as proof of his U.S. status,” Peterson stated in the release. “Calhoun received a Resident Alien Card issued by the U.S. Dept. of Justice and we were presented with a Social Security card in Mr. Patino’s name.”

At that time, the city did not use the internet-based E-verify system that is in place now and allows employers to check a potential hire’s eligibility to work legally.

Monroy has worked continuously for the city for 10 years, so the city has not had cause to run a records check on him since he was hired, Peterson stated.

He said the city has caught people working illegally in the past and has had to terminate their employment.

Processes are already in motion involving this situation and the city’s personnel policy, he said, which states that if Monroy’s information is fraudulent, he will be let go.

“If other valid information is presented to us, we’ll address that also,” Peterson.

An attorney representing the family affected by the wreck said on Tuesday that Patino-Monroy “needs to have to answer” to the charges against him before he is possibly deported.

“We will file a civil suit, for sure,” attorney Sam Sanders said outside court. “Mr. Stewart is hurt really badly, but thank goodness he’s alive. Both of his legs are injured, almost beyond repair. And it’s my understanding that the abrasions his granddaughter sustained are scraped skin all the way to the bone.”

Stewart, who was airlifted to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, is expected to face skin graft surgery today.

Assistant District Attorney Susan Franklin said her office is opposed to bond, citing the immigration hold.

“We may lose (Patino-Monroy) if he is given bond,” she said of the potential for jumping bond.

Boyett asked Franklin if one of the charges was a felony, and she replied yes (causing serious injury by vehicle).

“I am denying bond because he is a threat not to appear,” Boyett concluded.

“We are opposed to him leaving the country until those (charges) are dealt with, criminally and civilly,” Sanders said. “Whether he gets bond or not, he needs to have to answer for (causing the wreck).”

Elizabeth Crumbly contributed to this story.