Fatal Shooting: Man Arrested In Mexico, 15 Years Later

MONTEREY COUNTY, CA — A Norteño gang member who lived in Watsonville was arrested Friday, May 15 in Mexico on a $2 million arrest warrant for murder obtained by the Monterey County Sheriff's Office in 2005, deputies said.

Javier Morales Vaca, 41, shot Ramon Villegas, 45, in the head after an altercation ensued following a 2004 cockfight at a Los Lomas property on the 200 block of Hall Road, the Salinas Californian reported. Villegas was found at an outbuilding on a property and flown to the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, where he died, the paper reported.

Monterey County investigators determined Vaca was responsible for the killing and obtained the arrest warrant in 2005, but learned he fled to Mexico, the sheriff's office said.

Vaca was stopped by Tijuana police, who notified the U.S. Marshals Service that he had been arrested, the sheriff's office said. Vaca was turned over to the Marshals Service because he was a U.S. citizen and booked into the San Diego County jail.

Monterey County Sheriff's Office detectives traveled to San Diego Monday to interview and take custody of Vaca, the sheriff's office said. He was booked into jail on the 2005 murder warrant and a Santa Cruz County robbery warrant, the sheriff's office said.

Anyone with additional information about the case is asked to call Detective Mike Smith at 831-755-3762 or Detective Sergeant Bryan Hoskins at 831-755-3773.

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