Dana Point Cook Says He’s Not Killer Sought by Mexico

A Dana Point cook who says he has legally worked and paid taxes in the country for 12 years is battling extradition to Mexico, where officials say he is a fugitive wanted for killing a police officer in 1989 and escaping from prison two years later.

Ramiro Cornejo Barreto, 29, was arrested Wednesday by U.S. marshals on a warrant alleging that in 1989, he walked into a Tijuana jewelry store with a submachine gun. A police chase ensued, and an officer was shot to death. The killer was caught and confessed, officials said. Two years later, the killer escaped from a Mexican prison.

But Barreto’s attorney, Craig Wilke, insists his client isn’t that man.

Wilke said Barreto has no criminal record, has been steadily employed here since 1984--including the years when the killer was in jail--and has tax returns to prove it.

“A murdered police officer is obviously a very, very serious case,” Wilke said. “But I’m sure they want the right guy, and they don’t have it right here.”

But Assistant U.S. Atty. Linda Oprian, who appeared in federal court in Santa Ana Thursday on behalf of the government, said enough evidence was provided to secure the warrant.

“All we know at this point is that this person who appeared in court today fits the description of the person who is wanted in Mexico and uses the same name,” she said.

Cornejo is being held without bail in federal custody at the Santa Ana Detention Facility.

“He’s upset,” said Wilke, a deputy public defender. “He’s worried about his family more than anything. He basically supports his wife and she’s pregnant. He supports his mom [in Mexico] and she’s sick.”

Wilke concedes that his client’s name is the same as the suspect’s but said he has “reason to believe that the person who is wanted was using false identification.” Cornejo’s driver’s license and green card were stolen years ago, Wilke said, although Cornejo says he cannot remember the year of the theft.

In addition, Wilke said his client doesn’t match the suspect’s description.

According to court documents, the suspect is 5 feet, 2 inches and 119 pounds, with dark brown hair, a large mouth and a mustache. Wilke said Cornejo is 5 feet, 5 inches and 140 pounds, with black hair and a mustache.

“My guy is 20 pounds heavier and three inches taller,” Wilke said.

Cornejo has been working as a cook at the Marriott Laguna Cliffs Resort and at the Salt Creek Grill, both in Dana Point, Wilke said. Salt Creek Grill owner Tim McCune said he spoke to Cornejo from jail Thursday and promised to stand behind him.

“I told Ramiro that I would speak in his behalf as a character witness if that were necessary,” McCune said. “Ramiro, from what I know, is filled with a great work ethic, a great attitude. He’s a wonderful guy, a caring guy. He just seems like a very upstanding individual.”

McCune said Cornejo has worked for him since the restaurant opened in July, and he has worked for the Marriott restaurant for “four or five years.”

Cornejo said that between 1989 and 1991, he worked as a cook at Buffy’s Restaurant in San Juan Capistrano, according to Wilke.

Doug Siewert, 30, whose family owns Buffy’s, said Thursday night that he remembered Cornejo. The restaurant’s payroll records from that time period are in storage, but Siewert found an application for employment from Cornejo, dated September 1991. Cornejo said on the application that he had worked for the company beginning four years earlier. But it is unclear from the application whether Cornejo was working there during 1989 or 1990, Siewert said.

Wilke asked in court Thursday that the government produce fingerprints of the fugitive taken when he was imprisoned in Tijuana, as well as a photograph.

Daniel Goodman, an assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, said the extradition process will allow for those matters to be resolved.