AZMEX F&F EXTRA 2 10-9-12

AZMEX F&F EXTRA 2  10 SEP 2012   

Blog: Suspect in Brian Terry killing a mystery despite arrest

Source: Mexican Ministry of Public Security

Jesús Leonel Sánchez Meza was arrested by Mexican federal police on Thursday, Sept. 6 in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora. He's accused of killing U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry on Dec. 14, 2010.

•  Tim Steller, Arizona Daily Star  

http://azstarnet.com/news/blogs/senor-reporter/blog-suspect-in-brian-terry-killing-a-mystery-despite-arrest/article_fb532576-fb90-11e1-8002-0019bb2963f4.html  

They didn't even have the suspect's name right.

And now that they have that, we don't know a whole lot more about Jesús Leonel Sánchez Meza.

Mexican federal police arrested Sánchez Meza on Thursday in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, the Mexican Ministry of Public Security announced Saturday. He's accused of being one of the five border bandits who exchanged gunfire with a team of Border Patrol agents on Dec. 14, 2010, leaving agent Brian Terry dead.

That he was living in Rocky Point is another bit of bad association for the beleaguered Sonoran beach town, which has suffered a bout of bad news this summer.

Here's my quick translation of the ministry's announcement:

The federal Public Security Ministry reports that on Sept. 6, members of the Federal Police arrested Jesús Leonel Sánchez Meza, who is accused of killing a United States Border Patrol agent while trying to evade capture on Dec. 14, 2010 in the area of Mesquite Seep, near Rio Rico, in the state of Arizona.

According to the investigation, on the day of the incident, this subject possessed an assault rifle and was with four alleged robbers, identified as Jesús Rosario Favela Astorga, Iván Soto Barraza, Heraclio Osorio Arellanes (alias Heraclín or Laco) and Manuel Osorio Arellanes.

This subject used various aliases, such as: "Lionel Portillo Meza," "Lionel Meza Portillo," "Leonel Portillo Meza" and "Leonel Meza Portillo." He faces nine charges in the United States, among them the murder of the agent Brian Terry, and there is a provisional arrest warrant for international extradition from the (Mexican) Attorney General's Office; the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations is offering a reward of $250,000 to anyone providing information leading to their arrest.

As a result of intelligence work, the federal police located Jesús Leonel Sánchez Meza in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, where they conducted an operation and arrested him, immediately transferring him to Federal Prison No. 1, Altiplano.

Here's a Wikipedia entry on the prison, which used to be known by the name Almoloya de Juarez, which had a similar meaning for Mexicans as Alcatraz has for Americans.

Other than that, we don't know a whole lot about Sánchez Meza except that he apparently has used social networking. The head shot published by the Mexican authorities is typical of that medium.

And it's news that they have any photo at all. When the FBI revealed the identities of the four fugitive suspects in the Terry murder case, Sánchez Meza was the only one for whom they didn't have a photo.