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Mexican fugitive arrested in Oxnard
Deported man sought in 2003 slaying

By Angelica Martinez, amartinez@VenturaCountyStar.com
August 14, 2005

A Mexican national wanted in connection with a 2003 killing there was arrested in Oxnard by federal authorities, officials said Friday.

Gonzalo Vasquez Ortiz, 29, was in the custody of Mexican authorities Friday after he agreed to be deported because of his illegal immigration status in the United States.

A warrant for his arrest had been issued by Mexican authorities in the December 2003 slaying of Samuel Diaz Aguilar.

Ortiz is suspected of shooting Aguilar outside a nightclub in Oaxaca, said Guillermo Fonseca, a prosecutor with the Mexican Attorney General's Office in Los Angeles.

A relative of Aguilar told authorities Ortiz argued with Aguilar and fired four or five shots at the victim, Fonseca said. The relative also told authorities Ortiz was living somewhere in the Los Angeles area.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested him Thursday at his home on Terrace Avenue in Oxnard for being in the country illegally.

At the time of his arrest, Ortiz had a fraudulent green card and Social Security card, said Jorge Field, a supervisor for fugitive operations in Los Angeles.

"He complied," Field said. "We advised him he was being placed under arrest on his immigration status. That was the first question out of his mouth. I think he realized his counterfeit resident alien status."

Ortiz told authorities in Spanish he had been working the farm fields in Oxnard while he lived here. He last entered the United States about three years ago, Field said, noting he doesn't exactly know what ties he has here.

Ortiz was turned over to Mexican authorities at the San Ysidro border Friday morning to be taken to Oaxaca to face a single count of homicide, Fonseca said. He is not suspected of committing any crimes in the United States.

He is the first Mexican national arrested in Ventura County by immigration authorities in the past 10 months. During that time, the immigration's fugitive operations team has arrested 14 Mexican nationals wanted on murder warrants by authorities in Mexico.

Less than a week ago, for example, immigration officials arrested a Mexican national in Palmdale wanted in Jalisco on suspicion of killing a man in a dispute over a herd of goats.