Riverside County man arrested in Mexico after year-long manhunt
A Riverside County man has been arrested in Mexico after he allegedly shot at a deputy during a pursuit through Jurupa Valley last year.
Federal agents said Martin Perez Jr., 31, had been using several fake identities to avoid arrest for the past year. However, after searching for him for more than a year, a federal task force tracked Perez to the state of Nayarit, along Mexico's western coast, according to the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.
U.S. Marshals relayed the information to Mexican authorities, who arrested Perez on Thursday, Oct. 9. They handed him over to Riverside County investigators on the same day.
His arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 13.
"The District Attorney's Office would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the United States Marshals assigned to the U.S. Consulate in Guadalajara and to the Fiscalía General del Estado de Nayarit (State of Nayarit, Mexico Prosecutor's Office), whose efforts made the successful apprehension possible," Riverside County prosecutors wrote in a statement.
Prosecutors said a Riverside County motor deputy attempted to pull over Perez in Jurupa Valley on May 14, 2024. Perez allegedly led the officer on a pursuit and shot at the deputy before ditching his car in the nearby Santa Ana river bottom.
Deputies, including the department's SWAT team, spent hours searching for Perez but couldn't track him through the area's dense foliage.