Immigration fugitive admits escape

By JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST

Last updated: 6:02 p.m., Tuesday, August 28, 2007

COLONIE - The immigration fugitive who smashed his way out of an unguarded, reinforced van and dashed to freedom earlier this year could serve a year in jail before he's deported, authorities said.


Carlos A. Herrera, a native of El Salvador, had been ordered deported by federal immigration officials in 2002, but never showed up for deportation.

Herrera, 39, remained on the lam for half a decade, encountering downstate police numerous times in the interim but skirting arrest until Niskayuna police arrested him April. At the time, they were responding to a call of a car stranded on a lawn off Route 7 near Lisha Kill Road.

The next day, April 18, Schenectady County jail officials turned Herrera over to federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Hours later, Herrera kicked his way out of an ICE van in the parking lot of a Bank of America branch at the Latham Circle.

The van was stopped while the officer escorting Herrera entered the bank to help the prisoner transfer property to a relative, according to prosecutors.

Herrera was re-arrested on Long Island May 14. His escape triggered a internal ICE investigation, something a spokesman called routine at the time. The outcome of that probe was not immediately available this morning.

Herrera pleaded guilty Monday to misdemeanor escape in federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge David R. Homer. He could be sentenced to up to a year in jail and a $100,000 fine next month.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward Grogan said defendants typically serve their prison sentences before facing deportation.

"That's what I would expect to have happen," Grogan said. "I'd be surprised if it didn't."

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story. ... =8/28/2007

Another future model citizen. Perhaps one day he will become a border tour guide.