Bureau of Immigration (BI) agents have arrested two American fugitives wanted by US federal authorities on assault and battery charges.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said the Americans were caught recently in separate operations conducted by elements from the bureau’s fugitive search unit (FSU) in Baguio and Mandaluyong City.
“Like all the other foreign fugitives whom we have arrested, we will deport these two undesirable aliens and ban them from re-entering the Philippines,” Morente said.
Arrested on March 1 inside the SM Mall in Baguio City was 46-year-old Apollo Cioffi, who is wanted by authorities in California for assault. A superior court in San Francisco has issued a warrant for his arrest.
The US Embassy did not give a detailed account of Cioffi’s alleged crime but California’s Penal Code defines assault as a misdemeanor and as an “attempt to a violent injury on someone else.”
BI-FSU operatives also arrested last Tuesday 32-year-old William Schweizer inside his unit at the Tivoli Garden Residences in Mandaluyong.
Schweizer is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by a circuit court in Broward County, Florida, after he was charged with felony battery by strangulation.
Under Florida statutes, felony battery and domestic battery by strangulation occurs when a person actually and intentionally touches another person against their will and causes them great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement.
BI-FSU Chief Bobby Raquepo said both Cioffi and Schweizer are overstaying and undocumented aliens as their passports were already revoked bv the US Department of State.
Raquepo said Cioffi had hidden in the country since March 10 last year while Schweizer has been here since July 2015. (Jun Ramirez)