U.S. Marshals Arrest Man Wanted in Mexico for 2004 Murder in Hamilton

Aug. 1 – A man charged in a deadly shooting at a Hamilton bar nearly 20 years ago has been found in Mexico and is on his way back to stand trial in Butler County court.

The U.S. Marshals Service and the Butler County Prosecutor’s Office announced Thursday that Antonio Riano was found in his hometown of Zapotitlan Palmas in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. He is charged in the Dec. 19, 2004, death of 25-year-old Benjamin Becarra.

Riano was listed as one of the “Most Wanted” persons by the Butler County Sheriff’s Office and in 2005 he was portrayed in the television series “America’s Most Wanted.”

Investigator Paul Newton of the Butler County District Attorney’s Office worked with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Marshals Service and Office of International Affairs, which worked with law enforcement partners in Mexico, to secure Riano’s arrest and extradition. When Riano was arrested in Mexico, he was found to be working as a local police officer.

Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said Riano has been in custody in Mexico for about a year, but his extradition was secured this week and he was taken into custody by U.S. authorities on Thursday. He will be lodged in the Butler County Jail.

Gmoser, who was not the prosecutor at the time of the crime, said Riano fled to Mexico before the grand jury returned an indictment in February 2005.

According to court records, Becarra was shot in the head at a bar on East Avenue and Long Street. Witnesses identified the suspect as “El Diablo.”

Thanks to witnesses, video from the bar and a search of the home that turned up ammunition purchased 45 minutes before the shooting, detectives were close to identifying Riano as the alleged shooting suspect, court documents said.

Police continued to follow leads on Riano’s whereabouts in the US for two years until they received information that he had fled to Mexico.

The case was assigned to Judge Michael Sage in 2005 and will likely be heard by Judge Michael Oster Jr., who ran for judge when Sage retired.

“These types of arrests would not be possible without the cooperation and diligence of investigators from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the United States Marshal Service, and the U.S. Department of Justice,” Gmoser said.