LOS ANGLELES, Calif., Oct. 23 (UPI) -- A Mexican Mafia prison gang leader who fled California while his case was on appeal was caught in Missouri and will be extradited to California, officials said.
Albert "Spanky" Amaya, 45, had been sentenced to 25 years to life in California prison after his third felony conviction for extortion in 2008, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.
Thanks to a California ballot initiative passed last year, three-strikes felons can now appeal their sentences. Amaya was released in June to the custody of the San Bernardino County Probation Department, which outfitted him with a GPS ankle bracelet to monitor his whereabouts.
Probation department officials said Amaya cut the bracelet soon after being released and fled for rural Missouri. He was tracked to Sedalia, Mo., where he was arrested Friday, police said.
The San Bernardino County district attorney's office said in a statement prosecutors were seeking a court order to have Amaya sent back to prison while awaiting his appeal because he was a dangerous felon and considered a high-risk offender.
"He immediately cut off his GPS anklet and disappeared," the department said in a press release.
