BENTON, Ky. - A man who police said has ties to the Irish Republican Army and was living in Marshall County was arrested Saturday, police said.

        Joseph Kevin Gallagher was arrested in a Wal-Mart parking lot on a charge of theft by unlawful taking over $300.

        The warrant, from Marshall County, had been issued June 2 as part of an auto theft investigation by local police. He was also wanted by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Sheriff Terry Anderson said.

        Mr. Gallagher is in the U.S. illegally from Ireland, Sheriff Anderson said. He was deported in 1986 “for involvement in the United States in some situations where explosives may have been used,” Sheriff Anderson said. He said those blasts weren't in Kentucky.

        “I'm not sure what we are dealing with here. We're still investigating some things,” Sheriff Anderson said. “We know he was living here, but he would be gone from the county for up to two months at a time. The INS has been after him for years, and told us that he has connections with the IRA.”

        Mr. Gallagher is being held in jail.

USS Cincinnati caught in tug-of-war
Shooting raises alarm on Main St.
Tristate better prepared for attack
NY vendors hawk 9-11 memories
Sept. 11 baby reason for joy
9-11 birthdays take on new meaning
Tristate events mark Sept. 11
CPS fails graduation test
Tailgate parties only reason to cheer
Wrong-way crash causes I-275 pileup
Cincinnati bucks crime trend
Girl, 10, gives birthday money to Afghan children
Health Foundation forms fund to assume new roles
Man accused of propositioning child
Mason sewer rate change proposed
You Asked For It
Good News: Show raises money, awareness
History teaching plan has critics
Midwest not popular for exchange students
Train, pickup truck wreck kills four
Alternative schedule has parents on day-care ropes
Deaths investigated as murder-suicide
Council becomes video camera-shy
Fort Campbell soldiers face anxiety of war
Grocer brothers convicted of racketeering
Militia movement fading in Kentucky
Poll: Kentuckians back strike on Iraq
Theft suspect accused of IRA connections