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FBI announces arrest of cartel fugitive in Mexico

Posted at 11:55 AM, Aug 06, 2019
and last updated 2019-08-06 11:55:36-04

INDIANAPOLIS — A man wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on multiple federal criminal charges, including murder, kidnapping and racketeering, out of Indiana and Texas has been captured in Mexico.

According to a report on Tuesday, Juan Alberto Mendez, 47, was arrested in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico on Aug. 1 and was deported to the United States the next day.

Mendez, a known member of the Gulf Cartel, was wanted on two outstanding federal arrest warrants.

In Sept. 2015, Mendez was charged in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana in Fort Wayne with conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute heroin, cocaine and marijuana.

A second federal warrant was issued in May 2018 out of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston after Mendez was charged with conspiracy to participate in racketeering activity, attempted murder in aid of racketeering, murder in aid of racketeering and kidnapping resulting in death.

The FBI Indianapolis office issued a wanted posted for Mendez in late January and the next month the FBI in San Antonio announced a $25,000 reward for information leading to Mendez's arrest.

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The arrest came as the result of a collaboration between FBI offices in San Antonio and Indianapolis, the FBI's Legal Attache assigned to the United States Embassy in Mexcico City, the Mexcian Attorney General's Office, the Criminal Investigations Agency, Mexico and the National Institute of Immigration, Mexico.