BREAKING NEWS: Accused bounty hunters released for lack of evidence
By Jonathan Clark
Herald/Review
Published on Saturday, May 05, 2007
BISBEE — Five U.S. citizens who were arrested in Naco, Sonora, on Wednesday and accused of bounty hunting have been released after a Mexican prosecutor found a lack of evidence in the case, a U.S. consular official said Friday.
Four of the five detainees were released from custody Thursday evening, said Jim Bredeck, vice consul in Nogales, Sonora. The fifth member of the group, a 13-year-old boy, was turned over to family members on Wednesday.
All five have returned to the United States, Bredeck said.
Bredeck identified three of the detainees as Richard Polanco, Richard Polanco Jr., and Harold Lewis, all from the metro Phoenix area.
The fourth adult did not give Bredeck permission to release his name. An arrest report from the Sonora state police depot in Naco had earlier identified the man as Raul Arellanes Valdez, of Phoenix.
The arrest report had reversed Lewis’ first and last names, identifying him as Lewis Lee Harold.
The five Americans were arrested at approximately 11:30 a.m. Wednesday after two Mexican nationals, Luis Perez Flores, 31, and Trinidad Vizcarra Garcia, 26, told police that the men had detained them at gunpoint as they were walking down a street in central Naco.
Perez and Vizcarra said they were forced into a pickup truck and driven toward the U.S. border, but that they were able to escape before crossing the international boundary.
Roberto Bejarano, chief of the Sonora state police investigative unit in Naco, said statements from Perez and Vizcarra suggested that the Americans had been hired to detain them and retrieve a vehicle that they had allegedly stolen from Phoenix.
Bejarano charged the four adults with unlawfully depriving Perez and Vizcarra of their freedom and sent them to Cananea, Sonora, to appear before a judge.
Lewis’ son told the Herald/Review that Perez and Vizcarra had fabricated the story. However, he declined to go on record with his father’s account of the incident.
Bredeck said U.S. consular officials had taken an active interest in the case since Mexican authorities first notified them of the arrests on Wednesday.
“Whenever American citizens are detained or arrested overseas, we express an interest in the case,” he said. “We try to provide some service, such as notifying family or friends, but primarily by letting all the parties involved know that we are interested in the case and monitoring it.”
“And in this case,” Bredeck added, “it seems to have turned out very favorably, so we are relieved.”
Bounty hunting is illegal in Mexico. Duane “Dog” Chapman, star of the reality TV program “Dog the Bounty Hunter,” is currently facing extradition to Mexico on a charge stemming from his high-profile capture of a serial rapist in Puerto Vallarta in 2003.
Herald/Review reporter Jonathan Clark can be reached at 515-4693 or
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