SALEM, Ore. (AP) - A Mexican accused of killing a deputy sheriff and one of his own passengers in a car crash is being sought by the Oregon police, the FBI, Interpol and Mexican prosecutors after he was mistakenly released from a Mexican prison, officials said Friday.
Alfredo De Jesus Ascencio was freed due to an administrative error from prison in the Mexican state of Baja California in February, the Marion County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement in both English and Spanish.
He had been arrested in the Mexican state of Puebla the previous month. His release was not announced earlier while authorities tried to find De Jesus Ascencio.
Deputy Kelly Fredinburg was killed on June 16, 2007, when his patrol car was struck near Gervais, Oregon, by De Jesus Ascencio’s vehicle, authorities said. De Jesus Ascencio’s cousin, Oscar Ascencio Amaya, also died.
De Ascencio was charged with two counts of criminally negligent homicide but fled to Mexico before trial. An arrest order was issued in Mexico for De Jesus Ascencio for causing the deaths of Fredinburg and Ascencio, the district attorney’s office in Oregon said.
The announcement said there’s a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to his arrest.
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