ICE Deports Watsonville Man Wanted for Murder in Mexico

A Watsonville man suspected of a cold-blooded slaying in Mexico nearly two decades ago was arrested last month and Friday, federal immigration officials turned him over to Mexican law enforcement, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported.

Alvaro Hernandez-Fuentes, a 38-year-old Mexican national, was captured at his home in Watsonville by ICE officials, the US Marshal's Service and the county's Anti-Crime Team on July 12.

Hernandez-Fuentes is accused of killing Alejandro Gomez Garcia in Colima, Mexico on Dec. 1, 1993. According to the Mexican arrest warrant issued in January 1994, Hernandez-Fuentes’ girlfriend promised Gomez Garcia marijuana if he came to a certain location. Hernandez-Fuentes was waiting for Gomez Garcia and shot him three times with a .380-caliber pistol. When Hernandez-Fuentes realized Gomez Garcia was still alive, he fired three more times.

Hernandez-Fuentes’s girlfriend eventually surrendered to police and told them that Hernandez-Fuentes wanted her to burglarize a store to fund his escape to the United States.

Tips Mexican authorities received led them to search for Hernandez-Fuentes in Watsonville. He was turned over to representatives from the Mexican Attorney General’s Office at the San Ysidro border crossing Friday, ICE reported.

“Criminals who seek to escape responsibility for their actions by fleeing to the United States will find no sanctuary in our communities," Joseph Vincent, assistant special agent in charge for ICE HSI San Jose, said in a prepared statement. “As this case makes clear, U.S. law enforcement agencies are working closely together to promote public safety and hold criminals accountable—no matter where they commit their crimes."