Thread: Salvadoran murder suspect caught in NJ

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Salvadoran murder suspect caught in NJ

January 12, 2006, 1:42 PM EST


MIDLAND PARK, N.J. (AP) _ A Salvadoran man accused by authorities of committing a murder in his homeland was arrested Thursday morning by federal immigration officers in New Jersey.

Rene Hugo Mejia Juarez, 25, was arrested by members of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau's fugitive team.

The officers also arrested three other accused illegal aliens during the operation.

Salvadoran police allege that Mejia and an accomplice fatally shot a man on the banks of the Guiscoyolapa River in Canton El Sauce, El Salvador, on July 10, 2001. Authorities in El Salvador said Mejia fired the fatal shot.

Authorities said Mejia is a member of the Mara Salvatrucha street gang, commonly known as MS-13. He was charged in this country with illegally entering the United States and will be held pending a deportation hearing.

Midland Park is about 28 miles northwest of New York City.

http://www.northjersey.com

Midland Park raid nets slay suspect
Friday, January 13, 2006

By AMY KLEIN
STAFF WRITER


A Salvadoran man wanted for a 2001 murder in his homeland was arrested in an upscale Midland Park neighborhood early Thursday where he was working as a landscaper, authorities said.

Rene Hugo Mejia Juarez, 25, illegally crossed the Mexican border into the United States in 2001, shortly after he and an accomplice allegedly murdered a man on a riverbank in Canton El Sauce, El Salvador, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

Mejia was living in a rental house in Midland Park with three other illegal immigrants when agents from ICE and the U.S. Marshals Service, along with local police, raided the property before dawn, said Raymond Simonse, acting ICE Newark field office director.

Although Mejia and the others tried to flee out a side door, they quickly surrendered, Simonse said.

All four were charged with entering the United States illegally and were being |held pending deportation hearings before an immigration judge.

The raid stemmed from information that officials picked up from another unrelated murder investigation in New York, Simonse said.

"The two investigations were unconnected, but we received some intelligence off of that and the U.S. Marshals Service contacted us in New Jersey," Simonse said.

Mejia is believed to be a member of the Mara Salvatrucha street gang, commonly known as MS-13, ICE officials said.

E-mail: kleina@northjersey.com