MO - Illegal Immigrant Was Arrested in Warrenton Twice Before Murders

Posted: Saturday, March 19, 2016 6:32 pm
By Tim Schmidt, Missourian Staff Writer

A Mexican national who police say fatally shot five men in two states last week was arrested twice in Warrenton in 2004, months after he was deported and re-entered the country illegally.

Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino was arrested in September 2004 for property damage stemming from an incident in the Walmart parking lot and three months later for domestic assault following an altercation with his then-girlfriend at a home they shared, according to police records.

In only one case was formal criminal charges filed. Serrano-Vitorino avoided jail time in that one. In both cases he used an alias and was identified as Antonio Calanlara, police records show.

The police reports were obtained through an open records request filed with the Warrenton Police Department.

Serrano-Vitorino is charged with killing a neighbor and three other men on the night of March 7 in Kansas City, Kan., then gunning down a New Florence man the following morning.

He was captured in the early morning hours of March 9 in Montgomery County following an extensive manhunt that had thousands of residents fearful of Serrano-Vitorino’s whereabouts and placed many schools, including those in Warren County, on lockdown. His arrest occurred just miles from where a vehicle he had been driving was found parked on a shoulder of eastbound Interstate 70.

He has been charged with five counts of first-degree murder — four in Kansas and one in Missouri. He also faces additional felony charges in Montgomery County for armed criminal action and first-degree burglary.

Lived in Warrenton

Besides living at a home on College Avenue, Warrenton police reports show Serrano-Vitorino lived for an unknown period at a residence in the 1000 block of Frick Avenue. He also was employed at some point as a dishwasher at Los Cantaritos, a Mexican restaurant in Warrenton that closed.

The Record also learned that Serrano-Vitorino has at least one child enrolled in the Warren County R-III School District.

Many have speculated that Serrano-Vitorino may have been heading to Warrenton following the murders in Kansas.

The first time Serrano-Vitorino was arrested in Warrenton was Sept. 20, 2004. The day before, he was unloading a shopping cart in the Walmart parking lot with a woman identified as his girlfriend. He then pushed the car across the driving lane into a parked vehicle, causing a dent to a quarter panel and scratch on a door, police reported. The damage was estimated at $300.

In a written statement to police, a male witness wrote that the suspect “pushed cart carelessly across the width of the lane 40-50 feet into victim’s car, and returned to his vehicle laughing about hitting the car.”

According to the report, Serrano-Vitorino was advised that he could pay restitution in the amount of $300 by his first court date and no criminal charges would be filed. The suspect told the officer he would pay the full amount, but would be contacting the prosecutor’s office to work out a payment plan, according to the report.

Second Arrest

The second arrest happened on Dec. 5, 2004, when Serrano-Vitorino appeared to be intoxicated and forcefully pushed his girlfriend out of the way, the report stated. The physical confrontation occurred at a home in the 600 block of College Avenue. The female victim was three months pregnant at the time.

Serrano-Vitorino admitted to an officer he had pushed his girlfriend, but stated he did so because he was trying to leave the residence, according to the police report.

In January 2005, Serrano-Vitorino pleaded guilty to domestic assault and paid a $250 fine, according to court records.

Local police are unsure why Serrano-Vitorino was not flagged as an illegal immigrant at the times he was booked in the Warren County Jail.

The Warrenton cases were not the last time Serrano-Vitorino has managed to elude immigration authorities.

He has had at least one previous conviction — for assaulting a woman with a firearm in Los Angeles County — that led to his deportation in April 2004, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

The agency also said he was convicted in 2014 of driving under the influence in southeast Kansas. Last year, he was cited for traffic violations in Overland Park, Kan., and booked on a misdemeanor domestic battery charge in Kansas City, Kan., where he had been living.

He was fingerprinted Sept. 14, 2015, in Overland Park Municipal Court and that triggered an ICE order to have him detained. But ICE said it sent the order to the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office instead of to the Overland Park Municipal Court.

He showed up at the court the next day to pay a $146 fine. ICE said had its order been sent to an agency that had Serrano-Vitorino in custody, it would have sought to deport him.

The relatives of 49-year-old Randy Nordman, who was killed at his rural New Florence home, said in an emailed statement sent to The Associated Press last week that “we want answers!” from immigration officials.

Nordman’s sister-in-law, Deanna Dunn, wrote that Nordman died a hero, yelling out to awaken his wife and have her seek safety as he grappled with the intruder and managed to free the magazine from the rifle, “all before Randy was shot with the only bullet left in the chamber of the gun.”

“It’s a tragic and senseless crime that he has forever created a hole in our hearts, and our lives will never be the same. We may never heal from this,” she wrote.

Authorities have not released a motive for fatal shootings in Kansas last week.

http://www.emissourian.com/local_new...598513dad.html