Costa Rican Murder
Suspect Extradited
A former police officer
from Costa Rica wanted
for murdering a robbery
suspect was nabbed in
Newark this week and
extradited yesterday,
according to U.S.
immigration officials
and news accounts.
Carlos Alberto
Fernandez-Mena, 40, was
arrested by U.S.
Immigration and Customs
Enforcement officers as
he left his apartment in
Newark on Wednesday.
The Costa Rican resident
entered the United
States in February 2004
and overstayed a travel
visa, authorities said.
U.S. officials began an
investigation into the
fugitive's whereabouts
after the International
Police Agency alerted
them that Fernandez-Mena
fled Costa Rica to avoid
prosecution and was
believed to be living in
the Newark area.
Using surveillance,
members of the ICE
Newark Fugitive
Operations Team
discovered Fernandez-Mena
was living on Bloomfield
Avenue in Newark and had
been working as a
mechanic at various
garages. He was escorted
to Costa Rica by
officers from the Newark
Office of Detention and
Removal Operations
yesterday afternoon.
According to Costa Rican
news reports, Fernandez-Mena
faces 18 years in prison
for the Oct. 25, 2002
shooting of an unarmed
suspect fleeing in a car
in Tres Rios.
"The case is yet another
example of the close
cooperation between
foreign authorities,
INTERPOL and ICE in
order to locate and
apprehend a dangerous
individual attempting to
dodge justice," said
Scott Weber, field
office director for the
ICE office of detention
and removal in Newark.
In the past several
years, ICE has arrested
nine other dangerous
international fugitives
in New Jersey.
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