Police accused of stalking church

ZEBULON, N.C. -- Three civil rights groups say police in Zebulon are singling out members of a Latino church for repeated traffic checkpoints where drivers are stopped and asked to show their license and registration.

The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, the North Carolina Justice Center and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice have asked Zebulon officials for records of traffic checkpoints dating to 2006.

The groups believe that Latinos at the Iglesia de Dios Catedral de Jesus are being targeted by racial profiling tactics, a charge town leaders dismiss.

"We don't believe that those allegations are founded, and we believe we'll be able to show that," Zebulon Mayor Robert Matheny said Friday.

Matheny said the town is pleased to turn over the records sought by the groups.

"We don't have anything to hide," he said.

The groups also are asking for similar documents from the Wake County Sheriff's Office because members of the church say they believe sheriff's deputies were at some of the checkpoints.

Calls to the Zebulon Police Department and the Wake County Sheriff's Office were not immediately returned Friday.

In a so-called license checkpoint, unlike a drunken driving checkpoint, drivers are asked by police to produce their license and registration.

The three groups say such checkpoints are being used around the state to target Latinos, but the situation in Zebulon is particularly egregious.

"People are being profiled based on race and ethnicity, regardless of immigration status," said Katy Parker, legal director of the state ACLU chapter.

Parker said members of the church report that police checkpoints have been regularly set up on Saturday evenings just before service begins. That's led to a drop in church attendance, Parker said.

The church's pastor, Angelo Cabrera, could not be immediately reached Friday.

"The timing of these checkpoints is important," Parker said. "We've heard from other parts of the state that Mass will start at 11 a.m., and checkpoints will go up at the entrance and exit at 11:30 a.m., so there's no way to leave church without going through a checkpoint."

Matheny said police have assured him they haven't set up a checkpoint nearer than a quarter of a mile from the church, which sits just outside the boundary of Zebulon, a town of about 4,700 located about 25 miles east of Raleigh.

"That particular road is the main southern entrance coming into town," Matheny said, and similar checkpoints are commonly set up on other major entrance roads.