Former director of Tijuana police Gustavo Huerta arrested on torture charge
The former director of the Tijuana city police, Gustavo Huerta, was arrested Friday after a warrant was issued against him for the crime of torture, the attorney general’s office for the state of Baja California confirmed.
The arrest took place “after the judge granted last June 1 the judicial order for the crime of torture against José Roberto N, and Miguel N,” reads a statement by the agency.
The former official and retired military officer entered the Center for Social Reinsertion in Tijuana to await a hearing.
In the same investigation, former Public Security Secretary Julian Leyzaola was also issued an arrest warrant, according to the Punto Norte news website.
The suit accuses the LAPD of leaving curfew violators handcuffed on buses for up to 12 hours and of using force against a disabled homeless man in downtown Los Angeles
The crimes were allegedly committed in March 2010, when four municipal police officers were arrested and accused of extorting money from a group of foreign sportsmen, the media reported.
The police officers involved reportedly accused Leyzaola and Huerta of having tortured them to make them confess.
On May 7, the municipal government of Tijuana announced in a statement that Huerta had been hired as a spokesperson for the Secretary of Public Safety and Protection, a position from which he was immediately removed. At the time, Mayor Arturo Gonzalez Cruz argued that it was because Huerta had pending legal issues that he needed to address, according to the newspaper Zeta.
The deposition hearing took place Friday in a Tijuana courtroom.
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