Nuestros vecinos los Guatemaltecos

Fergus Falls, Minn. (AP) A Pelican Rapids man on Tuesday was charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing death of his roommate.

Juan Martin Morales, 18, is accused of stabbing Ernesto Carmona Matos, 24, during a fight early Sunday morning.

Morales appeared in Otter Tail County District Court and asked that his name and age -- which were listed in a criminal complaint as Miguel Alejandro Ramos-Rivera, 23 -- be corrected.


"We are not entirely clear exactly who he is," said his attorney, Schan Sorkness.

County Attorney David Hauser said he was told Morales used the name Ramos-Rivera as identification to work at Pelican Rapids-based West Central Turkeys.

Bail was set at $1 million. Hauser argued that Morales was a flight risk, saying he may not be in the country legally and that when he was arrested he wanted to go back to his native Guatemala.

Matos was found dead Sunday from a stab wound to the chest, the criminal complaint said. The owner of the house where the men lived, Florencio Barragan, said the two had been working at West Central Turkeys since December.