Fugitive arrested, accused of killing cop

WYOMING -- One of Puerto Rico's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives -- accused of killing an off-duty police officer in Puerto Rico nearly two years ago -- was stopped and ticketed by police in West Michigan a half-

But a Michigan driver license obtained under a false name allowed him to evade the law -- until Monday.

Federal agents arrested Yelin B. Otano-Matos, 22, just before 10 a.m. Monday outside an apartment complex in Wyoming after learning he had moved here from New York.

Otano-Matos was most recently living in Wyoming, reportedly with a girlfriend, under the alias Antonio Rivera Smith, police said. He also gave a fake date of birth with an age of 26.

State records show he obtained a driver's license in July 2001 under his phony name and with an address in Grand Rapids -- four months after the slaying in Puerto Rico.

It wasn't long before erratic driving brought a suspected cop killer within arms' reach of the law in West Michigan, according to Michigan Secretary of State records.

Police in Wyoming ticketed him in January for failing to stop at a railroad crossing and causing an accident. Less than a month later, he was ticketed for speeding in Hastings.

A month after that, Wyoming police ticketed him again, this time for driving without a seat belt.

The next month, in April, Grand Rapids police pulled him over for speeding and driving without proper registration and plates.

In late April, his license was suspended -- the first of nine suspensions issued by the Secretary of State for not paying traffic tickets. But he kept driving, and the police kept stopping him.

Police in Wyoming ticketed him in June for failing to display a valid license and in September for careless driving and operating on a suspended license.

The man renewed his license on Dec. 16, still under his phony name, after paying his fines, state records show.

Police were not surprised he was able to evade them, despite his brushes with the law. None of his offenses were serious enough to lead to an arrest, so no fingerprints were taken.

His real name was included in a "Wanted by U.S. Marshals" poster, but a fingerprint classification was not available. The poster also included several aliases, but Antonio Rivera Smith was not among them.

Grand Rapids Police Capt. Kevin Belk said investigators learned the name Rivera Smith shortly before the arrest.

"If you're looking at how that can happen, unfortunately we put a lot of weight into identification (documents)," Belk said. When he was pulled over, he gave police his license, and "we had no reason to believe it wasn't him."

Otano-Matos was wanted in the March killing of Wilfredo Monserrate Rivera, 32. Rivera was off-duty and using a pay phone in front of a restaurant in San Juan when he was shot twice, once in the back of the head, police said.

Puerto Rico Police Agent Lourdes Velez said officers believe Otano-Matos and an accomplice were planning to rob the restaurant. They shot the victim after seeing his gun and thinking he was an officer, she said. They escaped with the officer's service revolver.

Police arrested the alleged accomplice in San Juan and were holding him as a witness in the shooting, Velez said.

Otano-Matos apparently moved to New York, then to Grand Rapids, where he apparently has relatives.

At 7:30 a.m. Monday, a team of U.S. Marshals from Grand Rapids and New York, and detectives from the Grand Rapids, New York City and Puerto Rico police departments, went to his apartment in the 2400 block of Kentfield Street SW in Wyoming.

He just eluded them after receiving a tip that police were looking for him, said James R . Dougan, the local U.S. Marshal.

Two hours later, marshals from Grand Rapids spotted him outside Peppercorn Apartments on Woodward Avenue SW, south of 32nd Street and east of Clyde Park Avenue.

He allegedly tried to flee in his car, but marshals blocked his path, leading to a collision. No injuries were reported.

In late April, his license was suspended -- the first of nine suspensions issued by the Secretary of State for not paying traffic tickets. But he kept driving, and the police kept stopping him.

Police in Wyoming ticketed him in June for failing to display a valid license and in September for careless driving and operating on a suspended license.

Somehow I'd think that after so much trouble with simple traffic laws in such a short period of time, the police might just think it time to check into this guy just a bit more.

If they did that, the local MECHA and LULAC groups would be howling about racvial profiling - "driving while brown" and all that.

The next month, in April, Grand Rapids police pulled him over for speeding and driving without proper registration and plates.
In late April, his license was suspended -- the first of nine suspensions issued by the Secretary of State for not paying traffic tickets. But he kept driving, and the police kept stopping him.

Good job, folks !

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