Thread: CA-Fugitive felon gang member caught after 19 years on run

Fugitive felon gang member caught after 19 years on the run

Baldamero Johnny Diaz was arrested today. He mutilated his fingertips to avoid detection, authorities say.

By RACHANEE SRISAVASDI
The Orange County Register

SANTA ANA – A fugitive who mutilated his own fingertips to avoid detection – and who was twice prosecuted while assuming false identities – was arrested today for six attempted murders almost two decades after he was convicted and escaped, prosecutors said.

Baldamero Johnny Diaz, 36, was arrested at his home in the Riverside County community of Menifee by Orange County district attorney's investigators, prosecutors said. Diaz is scheduled to appear in Orange County Superior Court on Thursday, where he will be sent to prison to serve a life sentence for the Oct. 22, 1989, crime.

On that October evening, authorities say, Diaz was driving a stolen car with fellow gang members when they pulled into a parking lot off First Street in Santa Ana and shot at rival gang members. Diaz and his friends had followed the rival gang members after arguing with them at a party, authorities said.

Six of the rival gang members suffered injuries, but they survived, prosecutors said. Diaz, as well as four other gang members, were arrested and prosecuted. Tried as an adult, Diaz was convicted in August 1990 of six felony counts of attempted murder with premeditation and deliberation.

But before being sentenced, Diaz escaped from Orange County Juvenile Hall on Sept. 26, 1990. He crawled through a hole in the fence – which authorities assume was cut by someone on the outside.

Another youth who escaped with Diaz was found, but Diaz had disappeared. He was sentenced in absentia to life in prison, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Orange County district attorney's investigators began probing the case again in February of this year. Investigators say that Diaz had adopted several pseudonyms, birth dates and Social Security numbers, and obtained several Department of Motor Vehicle identifications, in order to stay hidden.

Law enforcement even fell for Diaz's ruse. He was prosecuted in 2001 for prostitution in San Diego County under the name of Jaime Gonzalez, and in 2006, he went by the name of Edgar Francisco Gonzalez when he was prosecuted for driving under the influence.

Diaz was connected to the drive-by shooting after a fingerprint analyst compared prints from the local case to the prostitution and DUI cases, authorities said. The analyst also deduced that Diaz had tried to mutilate his own fingertips to avoid identification.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/diaz ... prosecuted

Wonder how many destroyed lives he left in his wake?