The Peruvian national who has been all over the headlines for fleeing Denpasar court through the bathroom window—then getting caught in Sumatra about a week later—says he only tried to escape so he could go home and see his sick mother.
Jose William Salazar Ortiz was arrested by Bali Police officers in Pekanbaru, Sumatra on Wednesday.
Accused of ATM fraud in Bali, Ortiz apparently said he had to leave Denpasar court immediately, so he split through the bathroom window on May 16.
“The reason is that his parent is sick, so he ran away and asked other prisoners to step aside. Then he opened the window and ran off,” Denpasar Police Chief Hadi Purnomo told Tribun Bali.
From court, Ortiz went to Denpasar’s Ubung Terminal and caught a bus to Gilimanuk, West Bali. And from there, he jumped on a boat to Banyuwangi, East Java, then a train to Jakarta and next to Pekanbaru, says Purnomo.
Ortiz was planning to move on to Malaysia from Pekanbaru under a false identity with a Chilean passport, according to police.
Ortiz is one of three Peruvian defendants charged with participating in a network of ATM fraud. The three were previously arrested in Jakarta in January 2017, then taken to Denpasar for further legal processing since their alleged crimes mostly took place in Bali.
Jailbreaking has been a trending topic in Bali, these last couple weeks. A group of four drug case suspects similarly escaped on May 16—but from custody of the National Narcotics Agency (BNN). All four have been apprehended since their breakout.
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