Official: Man Arrested By ICE While Taking Pregnant Wife To Hospital Wanted For Murder
MEXICO CITY (CBSLA) — A law enforcement official confirmed Monday that a man detained by immigration agents in a video that has since gone viral is wanted on an arrest warrant for homicide in Mexico.
The Guanajuato State official who was not authorized to be quoted would not tell The Associated Press when the crime occurred but did say it was an "intentional homicide case akin to a U.S. murder charge."
CBS2 News spoke to a law enforcement official in Guanajuato Monday who would not use the word "warrant," but she did confirm police there have been looking to talk to Joel Arrona-Lara about his suspected involvement in a 2006 homicide.
The officia also said Arrona-Lara's brother is accused of hitting a man who later died of his injuries. According to Guanajuato State prosecutor's web archive, they ordered the arrest of Julio Cesar Arrona Lara in 2014 for which he was successfully apprehended in Leon, Guanajuato.
Arrona-Lara's wife Maria del Carmen Venegas and his lawyer have maintained as much, but they say the arrest is a case of mistaken identity. Attorney Emilio Amaya Garcia said he had not been able to confirm the warrant information with the Mexican consulate.
Arrona-Lara's arrest made national headlines last week after CBS2 obtained security video of the Aug. 15 stop at a gas station in San Bernardino as he was driving his wife to a scheduled Cesarean section. An emotionally distraught Venegas is seen weeping on the phone after her husband is arrested.
Venegas ended up driving herself to the hospital for the procedure and delivering a healthy baby boy, the couple's fifth child.
Venegas has stated that she and her husband arrived in the United States from Leon 12 years ago without proper documentation.
Garcia said Arrona-Lara could be in court in two to three weeks.
This story has been updated.