STA. BARBARA–A fugitive American lawyer who fled to the Philippines two years ago after he ran afoul with the law in his homeland was arrested by the police in Sta. Barbara town on Tuesday morning.

Arrested initially for violation of Philippine Immigration laws in Barangay Cablong, was Joseph Aldan Arriola, who was indicted for unbailable offenses in the United States of America.

P/Sr. Supt. Percival Barba, provincial police director, after being informed of Arriola’s presence in Pangasinan, formed tracker teams composed of police personnel under Supt. Harris Fama and Supt. Eric Noble, chief of police of Sta. Barbara

The duo coordinated and planned the arrest of Arriola after meeting with Federal Bureau of Investigation operatives from the US Department of Justice on Monday.

His presence was established when the police received a tip from the Barangay Intelligence Network that Arriola’s fiance, Jovie Cerveza was in Barangay Botao, five kilo meters away from Cablong.

A police team led by Noble went to the house on the pretext that he wanted to to verify information pertinent to Cerveza’s application for U.S. visa.

A man who turned out later to be Arriola came out and soon after exchanging pleasantries with Arriola, Noble gave the signal for Bureau of Immigration personnel to arrest Arriola.

Although surprised by the turn of events, Arriola did not resist and peacefully went with the arresting team.

The U.S. government had revoked his passport after a warrant of arrest for him was issued for conspiracy wire fraud (1 count), wire fraud (2 counts), money laundering conspiracy (3 counts), money laundering (counts 4 & 5), aiding and abetting, forfeiture.

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