Thread: Accused Pomona murder fugitive arrested in Canada

http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_4364988

Article Launched: 09/20/2006 12:00:00 AM PDT

Accused Pomona murder fugitive arrested in Canada
By Wes Woods II, Staff Writer

RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- An accused murder fugitive from Pomona wanted for fatally stabbing his ex-wife's boyfriend and injuring her was arrested after a drunken driving court hearing and faces extradition to Canada.

Rubens Rodrigues Herrera, 38, of Pomona, appeared at a hearing at the Rancho Cucamonga courthouse Monday.

Canadian law officers wanted Herrera for his alleged involvement in the murder and attempted murder of his ex-wife and her boyfriend, said Ontario police Officer Dereck Anthony.

The stabbings took place in May 2004 in Montreal, Canada, said Ontario police Detective Byron Lee. Lee said he works closely with the U.S. Marshal's Fugitive Task Force and was made aware of Herrera's case Friday.

A marshal's investigator received information from Washington, D.C., that Herrera was in the Ontario area.

Herrera, who used the alias Vidal Herrera while living in Pomona, moved to the Pomona area and lived with another family. He worked as a landscaper in Ontario and said he was a Mexican national, Lee said. In Canada, he said he was a Guatemalan national.

"He was living a low-profile life," Lee said. He was later arrested in Pomona on suspicion of a hit-and-run and in Upland on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Those incidents helped identify Herrera because his photo and fingerprints were taken and sent from the state to the FBI. The prints were matched and sent to Canadian authorities.

"They suspected this was the same person," Lee said.

When Herrera was arrested at the court, he turned himself in without incident.

Herrera was taken into federal custody. The Canadian authorities presented the police department a provisional arrest warrant, and Herrera is being held on that arrest warrant and immigration charges for being in the United States illegally, Lee said.

Lee said Herrera will be facing trial for murder and attempted murder in Canada where he will face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Guess the cream of the crop is "migrating" further north.

I wonder how his French is?