Man is 'person of interest' in burglaries near where Cochise County rancher killed

Brady McCombs Arizona Daily Star
April 21, 2010 1:31 pm
Arizona Daily Star

The Cochise County Sheriff’s Office is looking for a person of interest in connection with several burglaries that took place this year in the Portal area in Southeastern Arizona.

They are looking for Alejandro Chavez-Vasquez, who has given authorities various birth dates and lives in Agua Prieta, Mexico. Officials say he has a criminal history with convictions that include sex crimes, auto theft and being an aggravated deported illegal immigrant, according to a news release from the department..

The news release doesn’t identify Chavez-Vasquez as a person of interest in the investigation into the killing of longtime rancher Robert Krentz on March 27, but a news release of this type is unusual and the Portal area is just north of where Krentz was found dead on his ranch.

Cochise County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Carol Capas said he is currently only a person of interest in the burglaries but didn’t dismiss the possibility that Chavez-Vasquez could provide useful information in the Krentz investigation.

“It would depend on what he would be able to tell us about other burglaries or other open cases we have,â€