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Basalt, CO – John Richard Beato, 22, was
arrested Wednesday afternoon in Basalt by
members of the Fugitive Location and Apprehension Group (FLAG), the Basalt
Police
Department and deputy U.S. marshals from Denver and Grand Junction. Beato
was wanted
by the Tulsa, OK Police Department for the August, 2007 murder of
25-year-old Antonio
Flores. Flores was found dead in his mobile home several days after he was
killed. In June
2008, a warrant issued for Beato’s arrest. Tulsa PD homicide detectives
requested the
assistance of the U.S. Marshals led Northern Oklahoma Violent Crimes Task
Force in the
apprehension of Beato. Tulsa detectives and U.S. Marshals developed
information that Beato
might be living somewhere on the western slope. Tips and other investigative
leads placed
Beato anywhere from Basalt to Grand Junction.
The Northern Oklahoma Violent Crimes Task Force
contacted the U.S. Marshals sponsored
FLAG Task Force based in the Denver metro area to assist in the
investigation. Investigators
from FLAG traveled to Glenwood Springs and Basalt and began tracking down
leads. After
exhausting several leads, investigators found that Beato was working at a
local electrical
company in Basalt and probably riding in one of their vehicles. Plain
clothed investigators from
the task force and uniformed officers from the Basalt Police Department
staked out locations
and waited for Beato to show up. Shortly after 5:30 yesterday afternoon, one
of the Basalt
officers spotted the vehicle that Beato was believed to be riding in and
used a ruse to contact
the driver and occupants. Beato was immediately identified as a passenger
and taken into
custody without incident. He was transported to the Eagle County Jail where
he is being held
pending extradition to Oklahoma. The Glenwood Springs and Carbondale Police
Departments
also assisted in the investigation.
FLAG is a multi-agency fugitive task force
comprised of investigators from the U.S. Marshals,
Denver Police, Aurora Police, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, the
Jefferson County
Sheriff’s Office, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and the Colorado
Department of
Corrections. FLAG coordinates the annual “50 Most Wanted” Round-Up and
maintains a web
page of Colorado’s twenty most wanted fugitives at
www.colorado20mostwanted.com.
For more information on this and other
fugitive cases, go to
http://www.usmarshals.gov. |
