The Associated Press
MEXICO CITY- Mexican police Thursday captured a fugitive facing charges in California for the 2002 killing of a Los Angeles deputy sheriff, the U.S. embassy in Mexico City said in a news release.
Agents of the Mexican Federal Investigation Agency arrested Jorge Arroyo Garcia, a Mexican national, in the city of Tonala in western Jalisco state, according to the news release.
Garcia Arroyo, who also went by the first name Armando, is the lead suspect in the shooting death of Los Angeles County sheriff’s Deputy David March, 33, during a traffic stop in Irwindale, California, in April 2002.
A spokeswoman with the Mexico Attorney General’s Office confirmed the arrest.
“The arrest today was the result of investigative persistence and close cooperative efforts between the United States Marshals Service and Mexico’s Federal Investigative Agency,” U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza said in the news release.
In 2003, then-California Gov. Gray Davis posted a US$100,000 (euro84,000) reward for Arroyo Garcia’s arrest, and Los Angeles County officials met with Mexican law enforcement as part of a high-profile trip to focus attention on U.S. fugitives who flee to Mexico.
Garza said the United States has 60 days to file a request for Arroyo Garcia’s extradition.