An attempt by Denver police to hold a man wanted in Guatemala in an $8.6 million robbery was thwarted by the fact the suspect is a U.S. citizen, authorities said Tuesday.
As a result, police had to release the suspect – Diego Alejandro Diaz Sanchez, 23 – after an officer pulled over the car he was riding in early Monday for failing to use a turn signal.
Denver police spokesman John White said a warrant was issued in Guatemala for Diaz Sanchez’s arrest. But police were told he could not be held in the U.S. on that warrant, and he was released Monday.
An official of Interpol, the international police organization, said the fact that a suspect wanted in another country is a U.S. citizen complicated the matter.
Cristle Humes, spokeswoman for Interpol’s U.S. National Central Bureau, said she could not comment specifically on a case under investigation. But she said that generally there are many steps that must be taken before U.S. officials can hold a citizen on an international warrant.
Humes said there are 186 Interpol countries and that each has distinct treaties dictating who can be held under what circumstances. “There are as many variables as there are situations,” she said.
Denver police also checked with federal authorities to see whether Diaz Sanchez could be held on a violation of immigration laws, but they learned he holds U.S. citizenship.
“We received an inquiry,” Gale Montenegro, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Tuesday. “We researched the case, and there were no violations of immigration laws.”
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
