Fugitive Cop-killer From Mexico Arrested in California

(COALINGA, CALIF.) Federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies today announced the arrest of Maximiliano Maldonado Rebolledo, a convicted murderer who escaped from a maximum security prison in Mexico and fled to the United States.

Rebolledo, 24, of Morelia in the Mexican State of Michoacan, was arrested in Coalinga, Calif., on Sunday by Special Agents from the Violence Supression Unit of the California Department of Justice and U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The Coalinga Police Department and Fresno County Sheriff's Department provided additional assistance. When arrested in Coalinga, Rebolledo had possession of a firearm.

Rebolledo escaped from prison last March after overpowering two guards and a shootout with other Mexican guards. Rebolledo was serving a 65-year prison sentence in Mexico for the December, 1998 murder of three police officers in a gun battle. The officers had been attempting to arrest Rebolledo on charges of rape.

"This convict has no respect for the law or law enforcement," Attorney General Bill Lockyer said. "My department's Foreign Prosecution Unit will be working to return the inmate to prison in Mexico."

The Attorney General's Foreign Prosecutions Unit acts as a liaison between government agencies in the United States and Mexico to facilitate the return of wanted criminals. The unit also may assist in the prosecution of criminals who committed crimes in the United States, but must be prosecuted in Mexico.

Rebolledo faces a hearing Wednesday with an Immigration Judge to determine his legal status. If it is determined that he is to be deported, the INS would turn him over to Mexican authorities.