Seat Belt Gives Away Miami Fugitive
Can a seat belt earn reward money?
By JANIE CAMPBELL
Updated 2:45 PM EDT, Sat, Nov 14, 2009
Apparently you can run, but you can't hide without a seat belt.
A fugitive who's been on the run for 20 years was tracked down to his Southwest Miami-Dade apartment by U.S. Marshals last week after receiving a ticket for not buckling up.
Plinio Enrique Del Valle, now 66, posted a $125,000 bond in August of 1989 after being charged with money laundering and tax evasion, but escaped to his native Columbia and never showed up for arraignment. Eventually he returned to the U.S., working for cash in New York and New Jersey before heading back home to South Florida.
His semi-tropical life on the lam didn't last. Del Valle wasn't wearing his seat belt while riding in his wife's car, and well, we all know how cops feel about that. The ticket set off a red flag, and now Del Valle is back in custody facing a brand new bond hearing on Monday. (Three guesses as to whether they give him the chance to slip away again.)
No word on whether Del Valle's mother is somewhere shaking her head and giving him the "See? I told you to buckle up!" face, but odds are better than going 20 years undiscovered.
First Published: Nov 14, 2009 1:57 PM EDT
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