A former South Texas official wanted for allegedly sexually assaulting a child, as well as a host of drug crimes, has been arrested in Mexico after more than a decade on the run.
Guerrero, who once served as the Hidalgo County District Clerk, was wanted on a warrant for sexual assault of a child, a second-degree felony, “stemming from a 2013 investigation,” the sheriff’s office said. Separately, Guerrero was also wanted on felony counts of possession of cocaine, tampering with the serial number of an assault rifle, and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, according to a 2013 report by The Monitor newspaper.
On April 26, 2013, a 15-year-old girl made an outcry to law enforcement, saying she had been assaulted by Guerrero at a residence on the 6300 block of Western Road in Mission, in the Rio Grande Valley, after she had left her job “with a man known to her as Omar,” the sheriff’s office said.
At the time that law enforcement sought to arrest Guerrero for the sexual assault charges, he was already facing the felony drug and gun charges and had been allowed to remain free on more than $1 million in bond, according to The Monitor. At the time, officials believed his family had helped him abscond to Mexico, where he had remained until his capture this week.
Guerrero was initially elected to the countywide office in 2004. At just 28 years old — one of the youngest district clerks to be elected in Hidalgo County — Guerrero was seen by many as a promising, up-and-coming politician. Voters booted him out of office in 2006, in large part due to the criminal charges and scandal, including a prior attempt to flee authorities that lasted about two months, which prompted his opponent, Laura Hinojosa, to print bumper stickers that read “Where’s Omar?”