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If not for two members of Chapter 105 (CBP San Diego), one of the FBI’s most wanted men would still be on the run.
Philip Patrick Policarpio, who was among the FBI’s Top Ten Fugitives, was wanted by the Los Angeles Police Department for allegedly shooting his pregnant girlfriend in the head.
An FBI statement announcing Policarpio’s May 29 capture didn’t identify the CBP employees who apprehended him, but Chapter 105 named them—CBP Officer Edward McKnight and CBP Canine Enforcement Officer Joseph Cammarota.
After crossing the border into Mexico, Policarpio apparently got lost and turned into a road that led him right back to the San Ysidro Port of Entry—and to a checkpoint manned by McKnight.
When Policarpio pulled up, “I immediately noticed he was very nervous, by his rapid speaking, and he stated that he did not want to come into the U.S.,” McKnight recalled. “I asked him some basic interview questions such as what is his citizenship. He stated Mexican, but he did not have a passport.”
Instead, Policarpio produced a fraudulent license. McKnight ordered him to undergo a secondary inspection.
When waiting at the secondary inspection zone, Policarpio abandoned the vehicle and made off toward Mexico on foot, according to Cammarota, who responded to a radio call about a pedestrian who was stopped when he was heading south on Interstate 5.
Cammarota wrote in an arrest report, “I conducted an interview in the Spanish language with the individual. I asked him why he was on foot trying to go to Mexico. He replied, ‘I am lost.’ I asked him what his citizenship was, he replied Mexican. I asked him if he had any papers, he said, ‘No.’”
Policarpio’s “inconsistent” Spanish and his reluctance to speak it raised doubts about his claim that he was a Mexican national, Cammarota wrote. Jailhouse tattoos on Policarpio’s neck and his overall nervousness also were tell-tale signs, according to Cammarota.
Policarpio was then handcuffed and fingerprinted, which is when CBP learned his identity and found out that the FBI had issued a bulletin for his arrest. Policarpio made a last-ditch attempt to run, but was quickly detained.
National President Tony Reardon praised McKnight and Cammarota for their vigilance.
“These alert CBP employees used their training and instincts to put a dangerous criminal behind bars,” he said.
Chapter 105 President Jorge Llanos thanked them for getting Policarpio off the streets.
“CBP employees put their lives on the line every day and here’s just one example of how they serve their country,” Llanos said.
Authorities say Policarpio shot and killed his live-in girlfriend, 32-year-old Lauren Olguin, after an argument during a card game at a friend’s house this past April. Police suspected that the then-39-year-old Policarpio—who had the words “Only God Can Judge Me” tattooed on his chest—was a drug dealer and that he may have fled to Las Vegas. Instead, he attempted to flee to Mexico but made it just over the U.S.-Mexico border before getting caught.
Policarpio was on parole for multiple counts of attempted murder stemming from a 2000 case at the time he allegedly killed his girlfriend, according to the Los Angeles Times. Years ago, he had escaped to the Philippines with his mother’s help but was captured by Philippine authorities and extradited to Los Angeles, where he served 14 years behind bars, according to the newspaper. The Times also reported that Policarpio had multiple spouses and children in Florida and the Philippines and carried several passports and foreign travel documents under a variety of aliases.