Ecuadorian fugitive wanted for killing wife in 2019 arrested in South Carolina

Ecuador’s 13th most-wanted criminal was arrested in South Carolina last week, Enforcement and Removal Operations announced Tuesday.

Fugitive Cesar Leopoldo Condor Vaca, 29, was arrested Jan. 30 during a targeted operation in Greenville, S.C., deportation officers with ERO Atlanta said.

The agency was informed by the assistant attaché in Ecuador that Condor Vaca was most likely in the United States and wanted by authorities in his home country for femicide.

Ecuadorian news agencies reported that he allegedly killed his wife in May 2019 and tried to pass off her death as suicide. His death was determined to be “blow to the head” and Vika was named as a suspect in September 2021.

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His presence in Greenville was confirmed by agents from ERO Atlanta and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, who worked together to arrange a safe arrest that did not endanger any innocent bystanders.

The exact location of his arrest was not shared.

“Foreign fugitives who flee criminal prosecution in their home countries will not find safe haven in the United States,” said Shawn Erwin, ERO Atlanta Field Office Director. “Our immigration officers work closely with their state and local counterparts and are uniquely trained to track down illegal alien fugitives in order to bring them to justice for these crimes. to send them back to their countries of origin for the crimes they are alleged to have committed.”

ERO’s review found that Vaca legally entered the United States on March 15, 2021, but failed to depart on the required date.

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He was issued a Notice to Appear by ERO Atlanta officers, and will remain in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pending removal proceedings.

According to ERO, noncitizens placed in removal proceedings receive their legal proceedings from federal immigration judges in immigration courts administered by the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, which is separate from the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. Is.

Federal immigration judges in the courts then make decisions on a case-by-case basis, and ICE officers execute removal decisions.

In fiscal year 2022, ERO arrested 46,396 noncitizens nationwide with 198,498 charges and convictions.

Of those charges, 21,531 were some form of assault, with a breakdown as follows: 8,164 sex and rape offenses, 5,554 weapons offenses, 1,501 murder offenses and 1,114 kidnapping offenses.