U.S. fugitive known as ‘The Devil’ was caught in Mexico where he was working as police officer 20 years after commiting a murder in the state of Ohio.
“The Devil,” a U.S. fugitive who was featured on “America’s Most Wanted,” has been captured in Mexico, the U.S. Marshals Service said.
Antonio Riano, 62, was arrested Thursday in his hometown of Zapotitlan Palmas, Mexico, in the state of Oaxaca, officials said, where he was found to be working an ironic job.
“When Riano was arrested in Mexico he was found to be working as a local police officer,” the agency said in a news release on Thursday, August 8th.
Riano has been on the Butler County, Ohio, Sheriff’s Office most-wanted fugitives list since 2004, when he was charged with shooting Benjamin Becarra, 25, to death outside the Roundhouse Bar in Hamilton, Ohio.
Police said the gun used in the murder was found in Riano’s bathroom, NBC affiliate WLWT of Cincinnati reported. Afterward, he fled the U.S., allegedly to avoid prosecution.
In 2005, Riano was featured in an episode of Fox’s “America’s Most Wanted” television show.
Paul Newton, chief investigator for the Butler County Prosecutor’s Office, said the U.S. Marshals originally attempted to capture Riano with a warrant in 2006, but they missed him, and couldn’t find him after that — even though Newton said Riano was right down the street at a friend’s place when it happened.
These misses, Newton said, are not unusual when dealing with fugitives.
The case went cold until January of this year when his office received its reapplication for the provisional warrant, at which point Newton’s team used Facebook and other social media to track Riano down and finally secure his arrest.
Newton said Riano still has a wife and three kids living in Hamilton, whom he abandoned two decades ago.
The U.S. marshals said they teamed up with the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and local law enforcement partners in Mexico to secure his arrest and extradition.
After he was captured, Riano was flown from Mexico City to Cincinnati, then taken to the Butler County Jail.
Riano is charged with two counts of murder and one count of felonious assault. He was arraigned Monday, and is being held without bond.
Riano is due back in court August 12.
“This type of apprehension would not be possible without the cooperation and due diligence of both the Prosecutor’s Office investigators, the United States Marshal Service, and the United States Department of Justice,” Butler County Prosecutor Michael T. Gmoser said.
With information from NBCNews
