CO: Vehicular homicide suspect misidentified
Vehicular homicide suspect misidentified
The illegal immigrant had used the alias of a wanted man.
http://images.townnews.com/chieftain...t/masthead.gif
By NICK BONHAM
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
Jail officials and family members on Saturday confirmed that a man arrested this week on a seven-year-old warrant for vehicular homicide was misidentified.
Through fingerprint analysis, officials determined that 24-year-old Luis Fernando Lopez is not Fernando Lozano Lopez, who has been wanted since July 2001 for a hit-and-run accident that ultimately killed 42-year-old Frank J. Kaber of Pueblo.
Fernando Lopez was stopped Tuesday on Interstate 25 by Colorado State troopers for driving with a cracked windshield, according to an arrest report. Fernando Lopez supplied troopers with several aliases, one of which was Lozano Lopez - who was identified in court records as being 29 at the time of the deadly accident. That would make him 36 or 37 years old today.
"(Fernando Lopez) has been arrested several times in the past, and every time he's arrested he uses a different name," said Capt. David J. Lucero of the Pueblo County Sheriff's Department. "It looks like he really used the wrong name this time."
Lucero said Fernando Lopez denied knowing the wanted suspect, who was never arrested following the accident. Lucero said the charge of vehicular homicide has been dropped and Fernando Lopez was being held for federal immigration authorities because he is an illegal immigrant from Mexico.
Fernando Lopez's wife, 19-year-old Tania Duarte of Pueblo, was at the jail Saturday afternoon with family and a copy of an article written about her husband's arrest in The Chieftain. She, too, confirmed that her husband and father of her two children was misidentified in the story and jail photograph.
"When you're an illegal immigrant, you don't want to give your real name," Duarte said. "He's just here to work and not commit any crimes," Duarte said. "He worked for a construction company and helped build the new (football) stadium at CSU-Pueblo."
Duarte said her husband, who is from Chihuahua, Mexico, has previously been deported.
While the vehicular homicide charge has been dropped, Lucero said Fernando Lopez also is being held on charges of obstructed vision, false reporting and driving under suspension in addition to being held for illegally residing in the United States.
Authorities on Saturday could not immediately provide a photograph of Lozano Lopez, the vehicular homicide suspect who has eluded officials since July 2001.
http://tinyurl.com/5vuwdf
