FUGITIVE WANTED IN 1996 MURDER OF THIRTEEN YEAR-OLD GIRL IN MURRIETA, CALIFORNIA, FOUND AND ARRESTED IN MEXICO

A man sought for the past eleven years by the Murrieta Police Department and the FBI=s Inland Regional Apprehension Team (IRAT) is in custody in Michoacan, Mexico, announced J. Stephen Tidwell, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI in Los Angeles. Crispin Solorio Garcia, 28, of Mexico, was wanted in connection with the 1996 brutal killing of 13-year old Sophia Briseno in Murrieta, California.

After an investigation conducted by the Murrieta Police Department, Garcia was charged with murder by the Riverside County District Attorney=s Office. When Detectives with the Murrieta Police Department determined that Solorio Garcia had fled the state of California, the FBI obtained a federal arrest warrant and Solorio Garcia was charged in United States District Court in Riverside with Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution (UFAP), in violation of Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 1073.

A second person, Francisco Gonzalez Ochoa, is also wanted for his alleged role in Briseno=s murder and is currently being sought by agents and officers assigned to IRAT. Francisco Gonzalez Ochoa has also been charged by Riverside County authorities with murder, and federally, with UFAP. Anyone with information as to his whereabouts is urged to contact SA Don Roberts with the FBI in Riverside, California, at 951-248-6590.

During the fugitive investigation, the FBI=s Inland Regional Apprehension Team developed information indicating Solorio Garcia had been residing in Michoacan, Mexico. Members of IRAT forwarded details to the FBI Legal Attache in Mexico, who met with agents of the Agencia Federal de Investigaciones (AFI), the Mexican Federal Investigative Police Agency in Michoacan.

FBI Agents in Mexico, working with Mexican AFI Agents, traced Solorio Garcia to a rural area in Michoacan. Recent investigation by agents suggested Solorio Garcia was possibly incarcerated under a false name in Morelia, Michoacan. On June 1, 2007, agents working with prison officials located an inmate by the name of Ismael Gomez Solorio who was subsequently identified as the fugitive, Crispin Solorio Garcia.

On June 1, 2007, Agents with AFI executed a provisional arrest warrant for the extradition of Solorio Garcia. Upon completion of his Michoacan incarceration on unrelated charges, Solorio Garcia will be remanded to the custody of AFI agents, who will then transport him to Mexico City to await the final extradition process to the United States. Mexican authorities will determine when and if Solorio Garcia will ultimately be extradited to the United States.

The successful investigation that led to the arrest of Solorio Garcia in Mexico is the result of a joint investigation by the Inland Regional Apprehension Team, comprised of agents with the FBI, Riverside Police Department, Riverside County Sheriff=s Department, and San Bernardino Police Department; agents with the FBI Legal Attache in Mexico City and Guadalajara, Mexico; the Mexican Federal Investigative Police Agency (AFI) and detectives with the Murrieta Police Department.