A man held on a drug charge put his court-ordered GPS on his cat and then went on the lam.
According to CBS 6, WTVR in Virginia, federal court papers disclosed that Diego Martinez Espinoza, a Mexican national in the United States illegally, was arrested and ordered to wear a GPS device. Martinez must've decided his cat would look better with the bracelet - Martinez took the monitor off and put it on his feline accomplice.
If an ankle monitor seems to have been tampered with, the GPS device instructs the suspect to call and check-in. The cat would have walked around hearing the bracelet chirp, followed by orders to check-in with police. That bad-to-the-bone kitty didn't listen.
"We call them and physically make them come in so we can look at it," Henrico Sgt. Rick Garrison said, according to WTVR. After receiving the "strap tamper" alert, the authorities called Martinez who texted them a photo of the monitor on his leg. DEA documents indicate that this happened a few times, according to WTVR.
Martinez was arrested in Chesterfield for "trying to manufacture, sell, give or distribute more than 10 kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride by concealing it in the drum of a dryer," according to WTVR. A judge ordered the suspect to follow the rules of house arrest until his trial on May 6.
"The courts may order bond with GPS or GPS home incarceration," Garrison said, according to WTVR. "We also place them on our work-release inmates."
Or, apparently, their cats. The U.S. Marshals are involved in the manhunt. According to WTVR, officials said Martinez has contacts in North Carolina.
The police are asking anyone with information about Martinez or his whereabouts to call 1-877-WANTED-2.
