Colombian pleads to illegal entry
By Lisa Rathke
October 9, 2009

An alleged con man suspected of swindling wealthy hotel guests worldwide pleaded not guilty Thursday to illegally entering the U.S. from Canada.


Juan Carlos Guzman-Betancourt, 33, of Colombia, who is facing a burglary charge in Las Vegas, was arrested last month at a gas station near the U.S.-Canadian border in Vermont. He waived his right to appear in court and entered his plea through his lawyer.



Authorities say he has at least 10 aliases and has talked his way into other people's hotel rooms and locked safes.


In Las Vegas, he's accused of impersonating a hotel guest and making off with a large amount of jewelry and cash in 2003 in what is reported to be his biggest heist, said Barbara Morgan, a spokeswoman for the Las Vegas Police.

He's facing charges of burglary, larceny and forgery in that case, she said.


He's been deported from the U.S. three times, authorities said.


He has also been wanted in Canada, Colombia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Thailand and Venezuela, according to a 2005 Associated Press report.

He was born in Roldanillo, a town in Colombia's sugar cane-growing Cauca Valley, to Oscar Guzman and Maria Yolanda Betancur, according to the civil registry of Roldanillo. They could not be reached for comment.

A boyhood acquaintance, Cristian Andrade, told The Associated Press that he remembered that Guzman never stopped talking about how he was going to be rich and lift his family out of poverty.

In the U.S., he's been convicted of larceny in Virginia and New York and of fraudulent use of credit cards in Florida.


In Vermont, he was arrested using another name and passport after telling a border agent that his car had broken down in Quebec and he had unknowingly walked across the border, said Border Patrol agent Peter Costas, who filed the affidavit.

Fingerprints identified him as Guzman-Betancourt.


He faces potential deportation to Colombia, prosecutors said.

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