Jorge Milla-Valdes of Puerto Rico was captured in Lee County, Florida, after decades living under a fake name. Photo courtesy of Lee County Sheriff’s Office
March 9 (UPI) — A man who escaped from a prison in Puerto Rico in 1987 has been captured in Florida where he was living under a fake name, authorities said Friday.
Jorge Milla-Valdes is believed to have been living under the fake name Luis Aguirre, the office of Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said in a news release.
It was not immediately clear why Milla-Valdes had been imprisoned in Puerto Rico. But he had also racked up a criminal record under his alias, including convictions for robbery and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in Monroe County.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office said in its statement that the Puerto Rico Department of Justice, which is the American territory’s equivalent to the state bureau of investigations in many states, had tipped them off that Milla-Valdes might be living in the Florida county.
Investigators with the LCSO Fugitive Warrants Unit quickly obtained Milla-Valdes’ fingerprints from his 1986 criminal case in Puerto Rico to match against a set from Aguirre’s criminal history in Monroe County.
Tina Carver, the latent fingerprints supervisor at the sheriff’s office, expedited the fingerprint comparison and they were determined to be a match just 15 minutes later, confirming the name “Luis Aguirre” as an alias for Milla-Valdes.
A fugitive warrants team was quickly dispatched, and Milla-Valdes was taken into custody two hours later in an encounter caught on police body camera footage.
“They don’t want me. They told me about two times,” Milla-Valdes said as he was arrested.
“Now they do. They changed their mind,” an arresting officer responded.
Marceno praised his team, particularly Carver, for quickly working on the capture of Milla-Valdes.
“My team’s skill is unmatched at every level,” he said. “Even if your crimes don’t start here in Lee County, I promise, they WILL end here.”