Fingerprints Show Wrong Man Extradited To Colo. From El Paso Tex.

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- It was the wrong Manuel Villa. The El Paso, Texas, man -- whose age was not given -- was taken into custody March 17 after having a medical incident in the street. Unfortunately, Villa shared the same relatively common name as a Colorado Department of Corrections inmate who slipped free from his shackles and escaped more than 20 years ago. Manuel Villa of El Paso was extradited to Colorado and held in custody in the Colorado Department of Corrections for more than two weeks until routine fingerprinting revealed he was not the right person.

A statement from CDOC said Villa would be sent back to Texas.

At the time of his arrest, El Paso police said they believed Villa was the escaped prisoner, hiding "in plain sight" in El Paso. The man arrested was described as a "panhandler" who had a medical crisis in the street.

“Apparently [Villa] was bent over,” said Sgt. Enrique Carrillo, a spokesperson for the El Paso Police Department describing Villa's arrest on Denver's Channel 9 Tuesday. “Someone believed he was having some kind of distress. Our officers went to check on him and while doing so ran his ID and find out he’s wanted out of your jurisdiction there in Colorado.” Channel 9 later corrected their story.

Carrillo did not respond immediately to a phone message left by Patch via the El Paso police department.

The Colorado Manuel Villa, who would now be 62, was being held at Limon Correctional facility after being convicted for theft, robbery, kidnapping and burglary out of Arapahoe, Denver and Chaffee counties. Villa escaped from DOC custody in 1996 by jumping out of a medical van on the way to the Rose Medical Center for treatment of a knee injury news reports said.

Image Colorado 1996 CDOC escapee Manuel Villa booking photo