Thread: Seat belt stop nabs international fugitive

PALENVILLE, New York (AP) -- A fugitive from Ecuador suspected in the death of a prominent politician and two other men was arrested Saturday following a routine traffic stop, authorities said.

Christian Steven Ponce, 36, of Quito, Ecuador, was stopped Saturday afternoon in the hamlet of Palenville in upstate New York for not wearing a seat belt, according to the Greene County Sheriff's Department.

A license and warrant check showed that Ponce was wanted in Ecuador for triple homicide in 1999, deputies said. He was arraigned in Catskill Town Court and jailed without bail, awaiting extradition.

Ponce and two associates were suspected of fatally shooting former Ecuadorean presidential candidate Jaime Hurtado on February 17, 1999, in Quito, as well as Pablo Vicente Tapia -- Hurtado's nephew -- and their bodyguard, Wellington Borja Nazareno.

They were arrested two days after the shootings and Ponce later fled Ecuador.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/04/fugiti ... index.html

These checks are beneficial.......I just know around here they're so worried about "targeting the hispanics" simply because there are so many.......they don't realize it helps get others. I don't like it but hey....I didn't come here illegally.

Originally Posted by crazybird

These checks are beneficial.......I just know around here they're so worried about "targeting the hispanics" simply because there are so many.......they don't realize it helps get others. I don't like it but hey....I didn't come here illegally.

It's very hard not to have mixed feeling on this issue, I know I do, but I also all things in life are not easy and sometimes we must do things we wish we didn't have to. We want our country back, be for it is tolate!!!