According to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the man responsible for the hit-and-run death of Daniel Pollack, the son of Valley real estate mogul Michael Pollack, is an illegal immigrant.

Arpaio says Cristino Torres Romero was arrested in Tempe by Scottsdale police on Friday in connection with the September 11 hit-and-run.

Torres Romero, the sheriff says, is in the country illegally.

Daniel Pollack, 31, was standing in the median on Hayden Road, just north of Thomas Road, about 1:30 a.m. on September 11, when he was hit by a truck traveling south.

The driver -- alleged to be Torres Romero -- took off, and Pollack was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

According to court records obtained by New Times, an anonymous tip led to Torres Romero's arrest.

Torres Romero, who works at a California Pizza Kitchen restaurant in Tempe and has had the same Tempe address for the past four years, admitted to being involved in the hit-and-run, and provided police with the vehicle he was driving the night Pollack was killed.

The MSCO regularly investigates the immigration status of anyone booked into jails as part of Arpaio's "efforts to fight illegal immigration," according to a press release from the MCSO first
obtained by KTAR (the sheriff's office didn't get back to us when we requested a copy of the same press release).

The younger Pollack was vice president and a designated broker at his father's company, Michael Pollack International Management Inc.

Torres Romero was booked into jail on one count of leaving the scene of a deadly accident.