• Deputy Don Willmon, Angelina County Texas Sheriff’s Department
  Murdered May 13, 1979

On May 13, 1979, Deputy Willmon approached Alvaro Rodarte and began questioning him about a burglary that had taken place in the area. During the encounter, a struggle ensued and Rodarte stabbed Deputy Willmon numerous times. Rodarte then fled to Mexico where he remained a fugitive for 24 years.

On August 29, 2003, Rodarte was arrested in Zacatecas. He will be prosecuted for the murder of Deputy Willmon in Mexico under Article IV of the Mexican Federal Penal Code. If convicted, he could have been sentenced to prison for 2-60 years; however on September 4, 2003 a Mexican court ruled that the statute of limitations had run and Rodarte was acquitted and released.

[Note: If this were a California case, the acquittal would forever bar prosecution and Rodarte would be free to live in either country without fear of arrest or prosecution.]

Officer Collins was shot and killed in an off duty incident as he attempted to thwart a robbery while working as a security guard at Valley National Bank in Phoenix, Arizona. Ismael Conde was arrested, convicted and sentenced to 280 years in prison.

Co-defendant, Rudy Romero fled to Mexico where he remained at large for 12 years before being wounded in a shootout with police. He was then arrested on the outstanding murder warrant. Mexico refused to extradite unless Texas waived the death penalty. The paperwork was begun but before the extradition request was approved, the Mexican Supreme Court ruled that any life sentence was unconstitutional and the SRE refused to extradite unless additional assurances of a determinate term were given.

On November 1, 2002, thirteen years after the murder of Officer Collins, Romero was extradited from Mexico. He has since been convicted and sentenced to 98 years in prison. Both the death penalty and life sentences had to be waived in order to secure extradition. Romero is eligible for parole.

Officer Cadena was shot eight times at close range during an undercover drug sting operation. After the shooting a co-defendant reached over Cadena’s body and ripped open his shirt and pants, presumably looking for the drug money. Officer Cadena’s murder was memorialized in the 1990 TV movie "In the Line of Duty".

The shooter, Javier Suarez Medina was a Mexican national who had lived in the United States since he was three years old. In May of 1989, Medina was convicted and sentenced to death. On August 15, 2002, after 13 years on death row, Medina was executed. Among his last words spoken was the phrase "Viva Mexico". Medina was given a hero’s sendoff at his funeral in Mexico which was attended by 6,000 people.

The Mexican government actively fought the conviction and proposed execution arguing that Medina had not been advised of his rights under the Vienna Convention – an issue Medina raised for the first time one week before his execution. Mexican President Vicente Fox canceled a planned trip to meet with President Bush in Crawford, Texas in protest of the execution.

Officer Cadena, was an American citizen of Mexican ancestry. In a letter to President Fox, Cadena’s son Lawrence Rudy Cadena, also a police officer complained "Why is Mexico, the country of my children, defending a man who killed their grandfather?" No one from the Mexican government has ever contacted the Cadena family.

On September 30, 1992, Trooper Clodfelter arrested Francisco Manzo Hernandez for driving under the influence. Rather than leave Manzo’s passengers stranded on the highway, Clodfelter agreed to transport them to their nearby residence. All three men were placed in the back of his patrol car. When the dispatcher could not get an answer on the radio, a car was sent to investigate. Trooper Clodfelter was found seated in his patrol car about four blocks from the scene of the arrest with four bullets to the back of his head.

Manzo-Hernandez was an illegal alien with a long violent history of assault and drug use.

On October 2^nd, after one of the largest manhunts undertaken in Oregon history and the offer of a large reward, Hernandez was captured while hiding in a barn on the same street he had shot Clodfelter. Hernandez was tried, convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. If Hernandez had made it back to Mexico, and extradition sought today, he could not have been extradited unless assurances of a determinate sentence were given.

A year after Trooper Clodfelter’s death, his wife of one month, unable to overcome her great grief, chose to end her life. Rene was a fellow law enforcement officer.

UPDATE: VASQUEZ-MENDOZA RETURNED TO THE U.S. ON JANUARY 29, 2005 TO STAND TRIAL FOR THE MURDER OF AGENT FASS.

On Saturday, January 29th, Mexico extradited Augustine Vasquez-Mendoza to the United States to face trial for the 1994 murder of DEA Agent Richard Fass. The manhunt lasted six years. Even after his arrest and the granting of extradition (which took 2 1/2 years), it took another 4 1/2 years to get Mexican authorities to release Vasquez-Mendoza to US custody.

On his last day as an undercover officer, after attending a transfer party in his honor, Agent Fass went to a strip mall in Glendale, Arizona to complete a narcotics transaction. The drug dealers had planned a robbery and execution and immediately engaged Fass in a gun battle. Fass fired back, wounding one man, but was then hit by a fusillade of bullets. He was shot six times in the head at point blank range with a .45 caliber handgun. The two shooters were quickly arrested, prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole plus 55 years. The mastermind of the plot to kill Agent Fass, Augustin Vasquez Mendoza, fled to Mexico.

An intense manhunt was begun. Police began interrogating members of Vasquez’ family and death threats began flowing. Nine Mexican police officers throughout the area were assassinated, including five who had worked directly on this investigation. During the course of the investigation, DEA agents and local police uncovered the lucrative drug trade of the Sinaloan Cowboys from Michoacan. Drug runners throughout the United States were apprehended.

After more than six years of searching and rewards totaling $2.2 million dollars, Vasquez was arrested in Puebla on July 10, 2000.

In January, 2002, after a year and a half of negotiating, a judge ruled that the recent Mexican Supreme Court decision barred his extradition. The US argued that under the law as it existed in 1994, a life sentence meant 25 years in prison. With all charges stacked, the maximum sentence would be 53 years. In October, 2002, the PGR approved extradition and DEA agents went to the prison where Vasquez-Mendoza was being housed only to be turned away at the jail door. Vazquez-Mendoza had filed an Amparo related to a pending drug charge arguing that he couldn’t have been the subject wanted in the drug case because at that time he was on the run for the murder of Agent Fass. Prison authorities refused to honor the extradition order and release Vazquez-Mendoza to U.S. authorities until the Mexican drug charges were resolved. As of the date of this report, more than nine years after the murder of Agent Fass, Mexico continues to refuse to release Vazquez-Mendoza to the United States. There is some question as to whether or not the extradition process will have to begin anew.

Bernardo Velardez-Lopez, Julio Cesar Arenas-Hernandez, Manuel Gamez, and Juan Manuel Umares-Rivas were stopped by Agent Kirpnick and his partner while transporting marijuana in backpacks across a well-known drug corridor west of Nogales. Agent Kirpnick had defendant Velardez-Lopez on his knees searching him when two of the suspects broke away from his partner and ran. As Kirpnick became temporarily distracted by the escape, Velardez-Lopez removed a concealed gun and shot Agent Kirpnick in the head.

Gamez was arrested almost immediately and provided information as to the whereabouts of the others. The shooter Velardez-Lopez and Arenas-Hernandez were subsequently arrested in Mexico and extradited. All three have since been convicted of the murder and numerous drug offenses and sentenced to life imprison. Velardez-Lopez was extradited from Mexico in late 1998 after the US government agreed to waive the death penalty. He was sentenced in 2000 to two consecutive life terms.

The remaining fugitive, Juan Manuel Umares-Rivas was arrested in Mexico and returned to the United States on March 4, 2004 to stand trial.

Officer Atkinson was working a drug suppression detail, surveilling a white Lincoln Continental when his partners got called away on another detail. Shortly thereafter, three men emerged from the location and entered the vehicle. Officer Atkinson began tailing the vehicle but temporarily lost visual contact. As he turned north in search of the vehicle, 17 year old Felipe Petrona-Cabana emerged from the driver’s side and began filing his .357 caliber revolver. Atkinson was struck twice in the head and died the next day. A security guard on his way home from work observed the shooting and opened fire injuring Petrona-Cabana, who was taken into custody. Petrona-Cabana was an illegal alien who came to the United States seven months earlier from a small farming community near Acapulco in the State of Guerrero. A pound of cocaine was ultimately recovered from the vehicle.

All three suspects were illegal aliens from the same small town and were sentenced to natural life. The shooter, Petrona-Cabana, was represented in part, by an attorney hired by Mexico who successfully argued against the death penalty. Had they made it back across the border, Mexico would have demanded a determinate sentence before extraditing.

Detective Arango was shot and killed after having been flagged down by a club patron who indicated that some men had been breaking into cars outside of a nightclub. Detective Arango located three suspects and detained them. As he searched for weapons, illegal alien Bautista Ramirez shot Arango four times. The first shot took off one of his fingers, the second through his thigh. As Arango lay on the ground helpless, Ramirez intentionally fired one round through his badge and then executed Arango with a shot to his head which severed his brain stem.

Unfortunately for Ramirez, he had left his wallet on the top of the patrol car and was quickly apprehended. The trial was delayed while his defense attorney appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court, arguing that Hispanics were under-represented by the grand jury that indicted him. On June 25, 2003, Ramirez was convicted of the murder and sentenced to life plus twenty years.

• Officer Michael Dunman, Salt Lake City Police Department
  Killed July 17, 2000

Officer Dunman was on routine bike patrol in the downtown area when he was struck and killed instantly by an illegal alien, Cruz-Silva. The fugitive was arrested and charged, then released on bail after the Hispanic community claimed discrimination. The defendant fled to Mexico where he is believed to be hiding today.

 

 

 

On September 25, 2000, while on routine patrol, Deputy Schapp and his partner initiated a traffic stop on a full size van. Before either deputy was able to exit the patrol car, the sliding door of the van flew open and illegal alien Emigdio Preciado began firing an assault weapon at the patrol vehicle, striking Deputy Schapp in the forehead. Twenty-one 7.62 shell casings were recovered at the scene.

Preciado remains at large today and is believed to be in Mexico. The three passengers in the van have pled guilty to assault on a police officer.

Deputy Schapp has returned to very limited duty, currently in a training unit giving "sensitivity" training.

Deputy March was executed by Armando Garcia during a routine traffic stop. Prior to the murder, Garcia had been voluntarily returned once and formally deported to Mexico twice, He was a convicted narcotics dealer and weapons offender and at the time of the murder he was wanted on two counts of attempted murder. He is believed to have fled to Mexico within eight hours. Garcia has indicated that he plans to kill more cops.

In order to secure the extradition of Armando Garcia, under the current Mexican Supreme Court decision, California authorities would have to eliminate the special circumstance which requires a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole or the death penalty and "down charge" the murder to a manslaughter or assault with a deadly weapon, etc. in order to guarantee a determinate term.

On June 13, 2003, Officer Zeppetella stopped Adrien George Camacho for a traffic violation. Camacho pulled out a gun and shot Zeppetella. Camacho then pistol-whipped the injured officer before shooting him again and killing him with the officer’s own gun. Camacho was a documented illegal alien and gang member with a criminal history which included four previous felony convictions. He had been deported several times.

After a four hour standoff with SWAT officers, Camacho surrendered. He has pleaded not guilty and awaits trial.

Officer Pavelka was killed and his partner, Gregory Campbell, 41, was seriously injured during a shootout with two suspects who fired nearly 30 rounds at the officers. Officers had stopped the vehicle in a crime infested area and had called for back-up when the gunfire erupted. One of the fugitives, Ramon Aranda was killed by officers during the gun battle. Matthew Pavelka was the son of a 29 year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department.

The second shooter, David Garcia, fled to Mexico when he remained for nearly two weeks before Mexican authorities expelled him as an "undesirable" citing his US citizenship. It’s important to note that Mexico historically refuses to deport, expel or extradite anyone with a Mexican surname. It is believed that this expulsion was accomplished only because of the extremely adverse publicity Mexico has received as it relates to their indicated refusal to extradite Armando Garcia (no relation) for the murder of Deputy David March on April 29, 2002.

Police and federal agents were trapped five miles east of the Naco port of entry by gunfire from men believed to be Mexican drug dealers. The incident began when a Bisbee police officer spotted a Chevrolet Tahoe carrying bundles of marijuana and traveling with a Ford F-250. The officer chased the trucks onto a border road and the Tahoe escaped into Mexico. The Ford broke down near the border, where the passenger and driver ran into Mexico. Within minutes, a vehicle pulled up to the border from Mexico and opened fire with automatic weapons pinning down four officers. One of the gunmen ran to the abandoned Ford, grabbed a suitcase and ran away as the others continued to fire on the police officers. Approximately 25 rounds were fired. Fortunately no police officer was injured.

• Officer Robert Bryant, Denver Police Department
  Intentionally struck with vehicle, January 22, 2004

  Officer Bryant was on traffic duty working in a school zone when he was intentionally struck by an illegal alien who gunned his Chevy S-10 pick-up truck as Officer Bryant was attempting to flag him down.  Officer Bryant suffered serious injuries but is expected to recover.  The Mexican driver, who was high on drugs or alcohol was arrested after crashing his vehicle several blocks away.

Officer Whipps was shot three times by illegal alien Juventino Torres-Vargas during a routine traffic stop. Two of the three slugs were stopped by a replacement vest recently purchased by the department. The third bullet hit under his arm causing a collapsed lung. Officer Whipps remains in serious but stable condition as of the date of this document.

Torres-Vargas had concealed a handgun between his feet and shot at Officer Whipps through the car window after handing the officer his Mexican driver’s license and registration. Torres-Vargas was in the country illegally after having been deported to Mexico in 2003 as a result of a domestic battery incident involving his girlfriend. Unbeknownst to Officer Whipps, Torres-Vargas was wanted for aggravated battery and unlawful use of a firearm in the shooting of his girlfriend four days earlier.

Torres-Vargas surrendered after a four hour standoff with police and awaits trial on both matters.

• Deputies Daniel Dail & Victor Locklin, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
  Shot at with an AK-47 on April 9, 2004

While on routine patrol, Officers Dail and Laughlin observed Ricardo Rodriguez fail to stop for a traffic signal.  As they were attempting a routine traffic stop, Rodriguez fled the scene and led the officers on a high speed pursuit which ended when Rodriguez jumped from his vehicle and began firing his AK-47 at officers.  Although no one was injured, a grade school playground with 15 children was in his direct line of fire.  Rodriguez fled to Mexico.

• Officer William “Will” Seuis, Oakland Police Department
  Hit and killed on July 24, 2004

  Officer Seuis had just finished his shift as a motor officer and was returning home when he was hit and run over by Carlos Mares’ tractor-trailer.  Mares who had a history of traffic convictions fled the scene.

• Deputy Brandon “Brandy” Winfield, Marion County Sheriff’s Department
  Shot and Killed on October 17, 2004

  Deputy Winfield was on routine patrol when he stopped to assist what he thought was a stranded motorist.  Although the details are unclear, Deputy Winfield was found shot in the head in his vehicle which had hit a guard rail and flipped into a ravine.  It appears that at least one of the two suspects had been inside Deputy Winfield’s patrol vehicle at some point in time.  Two suspects, both believed to be illegal aliens, have been taken into custody.

  Deputy Winfield’s father and brother are both city police officers in Marion County.

  (Researched by:  Jan Maurizi, Director, Los Angeles County District Attorney, 8-29-03, updated 3-05-04, 11- 16-04))

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