Long Gone Fugitive Turns Himself in to Texas Border Agents

DALLAS (KRLD) - US Customs and Border Protection officers apprehend fugitives almost daily. But encountering someone who has been on the lam for 30 years is very unusual, especially when that person gives himself up. 

Wednesday 66-year-old Rodolfo Suarez walked to the Tornillo port of entry from Mexico and calmly told agents he escaped from the La Tuna Federal Correctional Facility prison in El Paso County three decades ago.  Roger Maier with Customs and Border Protection in El Paso says Suarez may have been south of the border for some time.  "If he attempted to come into the country through legal channels, his status as a wanted subject would have been turned up through our normal inspections.  So we assume he was out of the country."

CBP Tornillo Port Director Donna Sifford adds "Usually fugitives are surprised when our queries turn up their wanted status," said CBP Tornillo Port Director Donna Sifford. "In this case the man volunteered the information which we then had to confirm."

He was turned over to the U.S. Marshals Service.