Fugitive Antonio Alburquerque Arrested Re-entering the U.S.
By: KOLR10 Newsroom
Updated: July 9, 2012
confirms that fugitive Antonio Alburquerque was captured reentering the United States from the Dominican Republic, his country of origin and where he has family.
Alburquerque was apprehended at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport by immigration agents who detected Alburquerque's fugitive status.
Marshals in Springfield say they have been tracking Alburquerque's multiple movements since the 18th.
Marshals say they have been tracking his movements since he was released on a $50,000 dollar bond from the Greene County Jail and missed a June 22 hearing. Alburquerque was released without a required GPS monitor and without turning in his passport in what the Greene County Prosecutor called a "clerical error".
Antonio D. Albuquerque, 56, is accused of 19 felony child sexual assault charges to a minor for more than two years. He's facing a life sentence.
In interview earlier this week Greene County Prosecutor Dan Patteron said "It was where the bond request was and it was requested and the clerk's office did not put that in the docket entry or the warrant,"
He adds that the bond request filed by his office to the Greene County Circuit Clerk was clearly laid out.
"All the special instructions were verbatim and the bond amount was put in there and I think the disagreement that the prosecutor has that and we should have put that on as well," says Circuit Clerk Steve Helms.
The 'open court only' is not a local rule but a policy between the jail and the judges that says any bond over $25,000 is supposed to be open court so the judge can make sure the bond conditions are met before a release.
"There should have been a fail safe mechanism here as well," adds Patterson.
Helms says his office typically does not place that language on docket entries unless the judge specially requests it.
"As our policy, we put on the special instructions verbatim and the amount and our policy does not dictate that we put on any additional verbiage next to the amount."
And he says failing to enforce bond conditions doesn't happen often.
"I wouldn't say this is not a clerical error," adds Helms. "It's just one of those things that slipped through at the end."
A new warrant was issued for Albuquerque's arrest for missing his bond appearance hearing on June 22. We are awaiting information about Albuerquerque's extradition to Springfield.
