El Paso police make arrest in connection with Manhattan Heights sexual predator, burglary cases
El Paso police have arrested a 24-year-old man in one of the Manhattan Heights burglary cases and said more charges are pending.
Arturo Valtierra-Payan, of the 2600 block of Savannah, was arrested at 11 p.m. Tuesday in the 7200 block of Alameda without incident. Police said Valtierra-Payan recently moved to El Paso and is originally from Chihuahua, Mexico.
He has been charged with one count of burglary of a habitation and booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility on a bond of $300,000.
“We know at this point thatwe’ve identified three burglaries that ultimately had a sexual assault involved and we believe they were perpetrated by the same individual,” police spokesman Chris Mears said last week. A fourth burglary police believe was done by the same person did not result in a sexual assault. Police have said they believe the same person was responsible for these crimes.
Crimes Against Persons is continuing to investigate and additional charges are pending, according to police.
Police are not releasing his mugshot at this time because of the ongoing investigation.
Police told ABC-7 the incidents took place in the Manhattan Heights neighborhood and the area surrounding Newman Park off of Alabama Street.
El Paso police requested the assistance of special agents with ICE-Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in their search for Valtierra-Payan and agents assigned to the HSI El Paso Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST) assisted police in identifying Valtierra-Payan.
Officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) early Wednesday placed an immigration detainer on Valtierra-Payan after they encountered him at the El Paso County Detention Facility.
ICE detainers include:
ERO places immigration detainers on foreign-born individuals to inform law enforcement agencies that ICE intends to assume custody of an alien — illegal or lawful U.S. permanent resident — once the individual is released from custody.
Detainers are critical for ICE to be able to identify and ultimately remove criminal aliens who are currently in federal, state or local custody.
