10 years in obscurity: Convicted smuggler’s freedom ends at border By DARREN SIMON, Staff Writer
Saturday, December 24, 2005 2:31 AM PST
As a 41-year-old Mexican national sits in the Imperial County jail this holiday weekend awaiting a January court date, the U.S. Marshal’s Service released new details about a man who escaped justice for 10 years after a cocaine smuggling conviction.
Enrique Godinez Contreras was arrested Friday morning by U.S. Border Patrol agents at the international border fence in Calexico. He was turned over to the U.S. Marshal’s Service and booked into the county jail.
Contreras is back in custody because of his own effort to cross back into the United States. He jumped the fence, landed hard on Calexico soil and broke a foot, allowing the Border Patrol to capture him.
While Border Patrol agents may have first thought they were taking just one more illegal border-crosser into custody, a quick check of his identity revealed there was a federal warrant for his arrest.
A deputy from the Marshal’s Service, who asked not to be identified, spoke Friday about Contreras’ arrest and history.
His arrest comes 10 years after he was mistakenly released from a federal detention center in Los Angeles.
Contreras, who is from Mexicali, was arrested by federal authorities in 1994 for attempting to smuggle a large amount of cocaine from Mexico. The deputy did not have information on the specific amount of cocaine. Contreras was arrested in Bermuda Dunes near Indio.
In 1995 he was convicted of drug smuggling and was sentenced to serve 15 years, the deputy said. When he was mistakenly released from federal custody in Los Angeles, he had served less than a year of his sentence.
Following his release, Contreras slipped into obscurity, likely returning to his native Mexicali. He was a free man for 10 years, but with a warrant for his arrest federal authorities never forgot about him.
The deputy was asked by a reporter if it was thought Contreras had been engaged in other smuggling in the last 10 years. The deputy said he did not have information on any such illegal activity.
The deputy was asked why Contreras was attempting to cross into the U.S. on Friday morning. The deputy said he asked Contreras that same question but got no answer.
Contreras will remain in Imperial County jail until Jan. 10 when a federal hearing will be conducted to confirm his identity.
Then, Contreras will find himself back in federal custody. Information was unavailable on how much time Contreras could find himself serving.
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