Fugitive ex-LAPD officer fled to Mexico with father's help, FBI says

 

 

POMONA, Calif. (KABC) --

The father of a fugitive ex-Los Angeles police officer has been accused of lying to the FBI.

Victor Solis was arrested at his Lancaster home around 9 a.m. Thursday. FBI officials say he allegedly helped his son, Henry Solis, cross into Mexico to avoid prosecution.

Investigators believe Henry Solis got into a fistfight with 23-year-old Salome Rodriguez, Jr. that escalated into a fatal shooting in the area of Third and Main streets in Pomona on March 13. Rodriguez was found with gunshot wounds to the lower torso and later died.

Soon after the alleged murder, Solis called his father Victor Solis at his Lancaster home. Victor Solis then left home and was found the next day at a family member's home in El Paso, Texas, according to an affidavit in a federal criminal complaint.

Victor Solis told FBI agents that he dropped off his son at the bus station and does not know where he is. According to the FBI, Victor Solis knowingly and willfully made a false, fictitious and fraudulent statement when he told FBI agents that he traveled alone to Mexico on March 14. The defendant allegedly helped his son cross the U.S. Mexico border into Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico at approximately 5:40 a.m.

Family and friends told investigators that Solis said he would never see them again, according to the affidavit. Henry Solis remains on the run.