Hold up part of a plan to get deported

A Wilmington man staged a hold up, but apparently never intended to rob the Scotchman on Carolina Beach Road; instead, deputies said it was a ploy to get deported.

According to New Hanover County Sheriff’s Deputies, 37-year-old Jose Luis Medina-Ruiz, refused to take any money from a clerk at a Scotchman on Carolina Beach Road.

That’s after Medina-Ruiz allegedly, walked in to the store, and told the clerk he had a gun.

Deputies responded to the store’s hold up alarm. Medina-Ruiz left the store, holding the clerk at gun-point.

Deputies got the gun away from the suspect without anyone being hurt.

Through investigation, detectives learned Medina-Ruiz wouldn’t accept money during the incident, but that the hold up was a ploy to be deported to Mexico.

Medina-Ruiz is in the New Hanover County Jail, charged with assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of 2nd-degree kidnapping, and two counts of hoax by false device.