Ecuadorian fugitive wanted for killing wife in 2019 arrested in South Carolina

Ecuador’s 13th most wanted criminal was arrested in South Carolina last week, Enforcement and Removal Operations announced Tuesday.

Deportation officers with ERO Atlanta said 29-year-old fugitive César Leopoldo Cóndor Vaca was arrested during a targeted operation in Greenville, S.C., on Jan. 30.

The agency was notified by the assistant attaché in Ecuador that Cóndor Vaca was most likely in the U.S. and was wanted by authorities in his home country for femicide.

Ecuadorian news outlets reported that he allegedly killed his wife in May 2019 and tried to pass her death off as a suicide. Her death was determined to be from a “blow to the head,” and Vaca was named as a suspect in September 2021.

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His presence in Greenville was confirmed by ERO Atlanta and South Carolina Law Enforcement Division agents, who worked together to arrange for a safe arrest that wouldn’t put any innocent bystanders in danger. 

The exact location of his arrest was not shared.

“Foreign fugitives who flee criminal prosecution in their home country will not find safe haven in the United States,” said ERO Atlanta Field Office Director Sean Ervin. “Our immigration officers work closely with their state and local counterparts and are uniquely trained to track down unlawfully present foreign fugitives to repatriate them to their home country to face justice for the crimes they are alleged to have committed.”

An ERO assessment revealed Vaca entered the U.S. on March 15, 2021, legally, but failed to depart on the date required.

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He was served by ERO Atlanta officers with a notice to appear, and will remain in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pending removal proceedings.

According to the ERO, noncitizens placed into removal proceedings receive their legal due process from federal immigration judges in immigration courts administered by the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, which is separate from the Department of Homeland Security and ICE.

Federal immigration judges in the courts then make decisions based on each individual case, and ICE officers carry out the removal decisions.

In fiscal year 2022, ERO reported 46,396 noncitizens with 198,498 charges and convictions were arrested across the country. 

Of those charges, 21,531 were a form of assault, with a breakdown as follows: 8,164 sex-related and sexual assault offenses, 5,554 weapons offenses, 1,501 homicide-related offenses and 1,114 kidnapping offenses.