FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. CONTACT EPD MEDIA LINE @ 760.838.4444
Antonio Cervantes Sarmiento (09.01.77) had a $600K Arrest Warrant for lewd acts on a child. His whereabouts were not known until yesterday.
An EPD officer made a traffic stop on Sarmiento for a moving violation. The officer did not know that Sarmiento had the warrant.
Sarmiento could not produce any identification and instead provided a false name and date of birth. The officer asked for assistance from a field ICE officer. That officer arrived and learned Sarmiento claimed he was in the US illegally and had been arrested by EPD about 10 years ago.
The traffic officer arrested Sarmiento and brought him to EPD so he could be identified. The traffic officer and ICE officer ran additional records checks on Sarmiento and discovered his true name and date of birth.
They also discovered Sarmiento had an active $600K Arrest Warrant for several counts of PC 288- Lewd Acts with a Child.
Had the traffic officer and ICE officer not worked together on looking into the identification of Sarmiento, it is almost certain he would have not been identified and not been held accountable to the outstanding warrant.
The officer charged Sarmineto with the outstanding warrants and had him booked into Vista Jail. The officer also gave him a citation for the original moving violation, driving without a license, and providing false information to a police officer.
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