Alejandro Pedroza (Photo: Wise County Messenger)
A landowner in north-central Texas held a fugitive at gunpoint on Saturday and kept the suspect from fleeing until sheriff’s deputies arrived.
The landowner’s actions ended a countywide manhunt for Alejandro Pedroza, 30, of El Paso, who was suspected of engaging in organized criminal activity, drug dealing, and unlawful carrying of a weapon, according to local media.
Pedroza “came across a landowner who just happened to have a firearm,” Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin reported on Facebook. “Pedroza was held at gunpoint until officers arrived. Now Pedroza resides in the Wise County Sheriff’s Office jail and proud to be sequestered from the armed landowner.”
The manhunt started when the North Texas Criminal Interdiction Unit noticed a suburban driving slowly in the left lane through Decatur, Texas, just northwest of Fort Worth. Officers pursued the vehicle for approximately 11 miles until it crashed.
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Four males jumped out of the vehicle, two of whom were apprehended right away. Juan Saenz, 21, was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals at a local hospital on an outstanding warrant for smuggling illegal immigrants across the southern border. Saenz had in his possession one pound of marijuana, two ounces of methamphetamine, LSD and black tar heroin.
The other man, Hernan Guerrero, 22, was taken into custody by the Wise County SO and charged with forgery of government/national instrument, money or securities.
A third man, Francisco Herrera-Vasquez, 27, was arrested later that day by the Wise County SO and charged with the same crimes as Guerrero.
Local media reports that a female was also in the vehicle, but she did not attempt to flee the scene. She was not charged with a crime and was released.
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Six local law enforcement agencies assisted in the search for Pedroza, including the Wise County SO, the Highway Patrol, the Game Wardens, Constables, the Decatur Police Department, and the Montague County SO. They used a Department of Public Safety helicopter and Decatur Police Department’s K-9 unit to search through the night, but they couldn’t locate Pedroza until the landowner contacted them.
“Thanks to our Wise County citizens and officers who came together to make Wise County a safer place,” Akin said.
North Texas Criminal Interdiction Unit is a group of North Texas Sheriff’s Offices who combined resources to combat illegal trafficking of drugs, guns, stolen property, and humans.
Pedroza is being held in the Wise County Jail on a $750,000 bond.
Leave them for the hogs
NICE! GOD Bless AMERICA! And yes, shoot first and don’t ask questions. Why do we as citizens have to be polite to these felons?
Question: If you are NOT an American Citizen, and you ARE engaged in Illegal Activities Inside OUR BORDERS, why are we guaranteeing you the same Rights as OUR Citizens? Like Bond? What about Extradition to your Home Country? Let them house you in Their Jails, and pay Your Legal Fees. Why MY Tax Dollars? I don’t want you here. I don’t want MY Tax Dollars spent on you. Maybe they don’t want you either.
I fully agree with your opinion Michael
“fully agree” is actually wrong. I partially agree. To change how much constitutionally assigned rights might require new amendments. The terrorists from foreign battlefields are also given American rights if they are brought in country for war crimes. As a minimum, new laws would have to be approved by both houses of congress and be signed into law by by the President That is where we would get the supreme court’s thumbs up or down on regulating foreigners rights in America. “Precedent” would most certainly strike down any new laws to limit non-American’s rights on American soil. There will be no quick fix. There would likely be unpleasant consequences for shooting them for being on your land, if they had done nothing threatening. These days even a credible threat to your life or to others may not play well in court. -Ron
Why do these landowners “capture” these dirtbags? It’s time they learn to shoot them, especially when armed and trespassing – it sure would save tax payers a lot of money and prevent them from being released so they can commit more crimes.