Man Held in Agent’s Death to Be Released

Admitting they had the wrong man, federal prosecutors agreed Wednesday to free a South Los Angeles auto mechanic arrested two weeks ago for the 1985 abduction and slaying of a U.S. drug enforcement agent in Mexico.

Antonio Vazquez Conchas was taken into custody by agents from the U.S. Marshal’s fugitive detail April 9 and held on charges of murdering a federal agent, racketeering and conspiracy.

From the outset, Vazquez protested that he was the victim of mistaken identity.

He insisted he was not Antonio Vasquez Ochoa, one of 16 people indicted in connection with the killing of Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena by members of a Guadalajara drug cartel.

At a court hearing after his arrest, Vazquez’s lawyer, Gretchen von Helms, said her client was in the process of becoming a U.S. citizen, had worked for the same auto-transmission shop for more than 10 years and was the father of two teenage girls, one of whom attends UC Davis.

To resolve the question, the DEA scoured its files for the names of agents who had worked on the two-decade-old case and might have known the real suspect.

“We had 10 agents in our Los Angeles office, a bunch of agents in Guadalajara and I don’t know how many in other field offices tracking down retired personnel,” DEA spokesman Joe Martinez said.

They finally located retired DEA Agent Abel Reynosa, who had worked in Guadalajara at the time of Camarena’s slaying. He now works for the Department of Homeland Security in New York. Reynosa was flown to Los Angeles for a face-to-face meeting with Vazquez on Wednesday afternoon in a lockup at the federal courthouse.

Von Helms, who was present, said she refused to allow her client to be questioned about anything related to the crime. So, she said, Reynosa and Vazquez talked about baseball, specifically the New York Yankees.

Based on Vazquez’s voice, mannerisms and appearance, she said, Reynosa concluded, “This is the wrong man.”

Afterward, Assistant U.S. Atty. Larry Ng and Von Helms presented U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Abrams with a jointly signed document, stating charges against Vazquez were being dropped and requesting his immediate release. Vazquez was expected to be freed after the paperwork was processed Wednesday evening.

Talking to reporters, the defense attorney had high praise for government officials’ conduct in resolving the identity issue.

“I think they did a stupendous job,” she said. “They pulled out all stops. But what this case also shows is that innocent people really can be falsely charged with a crime, especially one as grievous and awful as this one.”

Still unanswered Wednesday was what caused federal marshals to arrest the wrong man. Had they acted on a bad tip or did they commit a clerical blunder? The agency had no immediate comment Wednesday, but spokesman Jimell Griffin said a statement would be issued today.

Camarena, a 37-year-old DEA agent, was abducted in broad daylight Feb. 7, 1985, as he was walking to his car near the U.S. Consulate in Guadalajara. U.S. investigators said he was driven to a drug lord’s suburban compound, where he was interrogated about DEA activities, tortured with burning cigarettes and beaten to death.