A man wanted in connection with the 2008 killing of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy in Cypress Park has been returned to the U.S. from Mexico to face charges.
Roberto Salazar, 38, was arrested in March by Mexican authorities and transferred Tuesday into U.S. custody.
“Justice has been a long time coming, but today we are one step closer,” Sheriff Robert Luna said during a news conference at the Hall of Justice on Wednesday afternoon.
The L.A. County district attorney’s office will charge Salazar with first-degree murder with special circumstances and conspiracy to commit murder. He faces a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Salazar’s arraignment Thursday morning was postponed until Sept. 22 because he did not yet have a defense attorney. Appearing before Judge Theresa McGonigle, Salazar stood slightly stooped over in a glass-enclosed holding area with his hair buzzed and wearing an orange jail shirt.
Two female relatives of Salazar who attended the hearing declined to comment, as did Deputy Dist. Atty. Eric Siddall, who appeared for the prosecution.
Salazar was handed over along with 25 other prisoners described by U.S. and Mexican authorities as high-ranking drug cartel members. Mexico long ago abolished capital punishment and reportedly agreed to the mass prisoner transfer on the condition that none face the death penalty.
Salazar’s case dates back to Aug. 2, 2008, when Juan Abel Escalante was shot in the back of the head as he was reaching to adjust a child’s seat inside his car outside his parents’ house as he readied to leave for his job at Men’s Central Jail.
By December 2012, four of the six alleged members of the notorious Avenues gang that authorities accused of having been involved in the killing had been arrested and charged. That list included Carlos Velasquez, who was arrested in December 2008 and ultimately pleaded guilty to murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Authorities said Velasquez shot Escalante multiple times after mistaking him for a rival gang member.
U.S. Atty. Gen. Pamela Bondi described the return of the 26 men as “the latest example of the Trump administration’s historic efforts to dismantle cartels and foreign terrorist organizations” in a statement Tuesday.
Celeste Escalante, the widow of Juan Abel Escalante, and their daughter watch as pallbearers carry the deputy’s casket during funeral services on Aug. 8, 2008.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Escalante and his family were living at his parents’ home in Cypress Park at the time of his slaying. He had served in the Army Reserve and had been working for the Sheriff’s Department for 2½ years.
“My words go out to the Escalante family,” Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said Wednesday. “That relentess pursuit of justice is not over, but we are almost there.”
