By: Sharon Aron Baron
During a traffic stop in Tamarac, a deputy with the Broward Sheriff’s Office discovered a driver, who was in the United States illegally, was wanted for murder in El Salvador.
Shortly before noon on Monday, a Tamarac deputy spotted a 2007 Cadillac Escalade who was “impeding the flow of traffic” in the area of West McNab Road and Northwest 70th Avenue. The deputy pulled the driver over to find out why he was stopping in traffic.
The driver, Carlos Ernesto Lozano Rodriguez, 26, of North Lauderdale, told the deputy he did not have a Florida driver’s license and provided an El Salvador passport instead. When the deputy entered the driver’s name in the national crime database, he discovered Rodriguez was wanted on a homicide warrant. According to Interpol, Rodriguez was wanted for murder in El Salvador. Additionally, he was listed as armed and dangerous and a documented gang member.
The deputy waited for backup to arrive before instructing Rodriguez to get out of the SUV and placing him in handcuffs. Rodriguez started resisting and pulling away and refused to get in the deputy’s patrol car. An officer from the Sunrise Police Department was passing by and stopped to help the deputies secure Rodriguez and put him in the BSO unit.
Through their investigation, deputies learned Rodriguez had been deported in 2015 and paid $10,000 for his illegal re-entry back into the United States.
U.S. Border Patrol was contacted and sent two agents who took custody of Rodriguez for further processing and removal.