A 19-year-old Phoenix man taken into custody by the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office earlier this month was the subject of a nationwide warrant for charges of attempted murder and armed robbery in Peoria last summer.
Emmanuel Gabriel Duarte was pulled over by a U.S. Border Patrol agent near Sierra Vista on Feb. 13 for suspicion of a human smuggling offense. The agent contacted the sheriff’s office after an identification check revealed Duarte was wanted out in Maricopa County.
Duarte was booked into the Cochise County jail in Bisbee where he was held until Maricopa County officials took custody of him Thursday after Duarte cleared quarantine. He is slated to be arraigned in Maricopa County Superior Court on March 4. Until then he remains jailed in lieu of $500,000 cash-only bail.
Court records show Duarte is one of three defendants in the case which is set for trial in October. He was previously booked into the Maricopa County jail in connection to the armed robbery but was released from custody while the investigation continued.
A Maricopa County grand jury handed down an indictment in January 2021. The other defendants’ names have not been confirmed as of press time.
No additional information was released by the U.S. Border Patrol concerning the reason the agent pulled over the vehicle Duarte was in on Feb. 13.