Posted on: January 27, 2023, 01:43h.
Last updated on: January 27, 2023, 01:43h.
A Mexican national arrested by US Border Patrol Agents at North Dakota’s Sky Dancer Casino and Resort last week was charged with a double murder and a kidnapping in his home country, local Fox affiliate KVRR reports.
Fidel Arenas Torres showed up at the casino, in Belcourt on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation, on New Year’s Day to claim $4,800 in winnings.
But staff became suspicious when he could not produce a social security number, which is required for wins over $600.
They called Border Patrol, who determined that Arenas Torres was a dangerous criminal gang member.
Brazen Execution
Known in Mexico as “El Pelón” [the Bald One], authorities there suspected him of participating in the brazen execution of a man and a woman in the city of Tepic in western Mexico.
María Anahí Hernández Tejeda and Jorge de Jesús Pérez Legaspi were shot dead in their car by a gang of men in December 2012 for unknown reasons.
Arenas Torres was also charged with kidnapping a local shrimp trader a month later.
He was captured by Mexican authorities in March 2013. Local newspapers reported he was charged with those crimes. But it is not clear if he was ever convicted or served prison time in Mexico, nor is it clear how he ended up in a casino in the US a stone’s throw from the Canadian border.
Border Patrol also discovered he had been kicked out of the US following felony arrests for drugs in Arizona in 2000 and for unlawful possession of a fake ID in Utah in 2011.
But by the time Border Patrol agents arrived at the Sky Dancer Casino, Arenas Torres was gone.
When he returned on January 20, casino security, again, alerted authorities, who arrested the Mexican national.
Cartel Torture Claim
Arenas Torres admitted he had been in the country illegally since October 2021. A spokesperson for the U.S Attorney’s office declined to comment to KFGO News whether Mexico had requested extradition.
On Wednesday, Arenas Torres told the court he could not return to Mexico because he had been tortured by a cartel and his life would be in danger.
He is being held on charges of being in the US after having been removed from the country on a felony conviction.