MANCHESTER - A woman who lives on Merrimack Street said a man pretending to be an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent forced his way into her apartment, then slapped her across the face when she said she was calling police.

The incident happened Monday about 7:30 p.m. at the home of Uyen Giang, 27, of 64 Merrimack St.
The woman told police a man knocked on her door and identified himself as an INS agent. She opened it and the man pushed his way inside, closing and locking the door behind him, preventing her from leaving.

The man again identified himself as an INS agent and demanded her "papers." She asked him for identification and told him she was calling police.

As she looked for her cellphone, the man slapped her in the face. She pushed him aside and escaped out her apartment, yelling to neighbors about an intruder.

When she and neighbors went back to her apartment, the man was gone and so was her laptop computer. Officer Brian Gillotte stopped a man, identified as Ariel Mejias, 47, of 123 Pleasant St., who police said matched the intruder's description, in front of the woman's apartment building.

Police arrested him after they said they found several pieces of evidence inside the apartment that they linked to Mejias, including an inhaler, cigarette and a lighter.
He is charged with burglary, false impersonation, false imprisonment and simple assault.