GUERRERO, Mex. (WRIC) — A Virginia inmate on the lam from Piedmont Regional Jail was captured by Mexican authorities Thursday afternoon.
According to the FBI, 26-year-old Alder Marin Sotelo was captured at approximately 1 p.m. in the Mexican state of Guererro four days he broke out of Piedmont Regional Jail in Farmville on Sunday, April 30.
Sotelo had previously been arrested for first degree murder.
It is still unknown how Marin-Sotelo broke out of a back door at Piedmont Regional Jail and ended up in Mexico. The FBI said they are still working to reconstruct his movements since escaping from Piedmont Regional Jail on April 30.
They also have not yet located Sotelo’s escape vehicle, a 2003 red Ford Mustang. Sotelo’s sister, Adriana Marin-Sotelo, was arrested on Tuesday in North Carolina, accused for paying someone to leave the Mustang as a “getaway car” in the jail parking lot for her brother.
Documents from jail administrative meetings held before the escapes revealed conservations about faulty locks, prompting Piedmont Regional Jail to issue a statement saying in part “Such discussions pertained to interior doors in a different housing pod from which the inmates escaped.”
Even though Marin-Sotelo has now been captured, this could be the start of a long extradition process. 8News Legal Analyst Russ Stone says that extradition from one state to another is relatively easy, but because Marin-Sotelo was found in another country, it could make the process longer.
“It becomes extremely complicated no matter how you slice it,” Stone said. “Mexico gets to decide whether or not they will do it. If it is ultimately agreed to, then the state department has to get involved and they have to work out the details of whether he is going to come back here or whether he is going to be prosecuted in Mexico.”
Stone added that what will happen next depends on Marin-Sotelo’s citizenship, among other factors.
A second Piedmont inmate, 44-year-old Bruce Callahan, is still on the run after escaping 22 hours after Marin-Sotelo. Callahan was being held for federal drugs and firearms charges.
This is a developing story, stay with 8News for updates.
