Cops Snag Fake Doctor Accused of Slaying
Friday, February 27, 2004
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Dean Faiello (search), the man authorities described as a fugitive fake doctor, was nabbed Thursday quaffing a drink at the pool bar of a swanky Costa Rican beach resort.
Police and immigration agents arrested Faiello — suspected of killing Manhattan investment banker Maria Cruz (search) and burying her in a concrete coffin — at the Hotel Villas Playa Samara in the Pacific Coast town of Samara.
Faiello, 44, was in swimming trunks and enjoying a drink with his new lawyer, Moises Vincenzi (search), when the officers arrived to take him. He seemed surprised but didn't resist.
Using the name Diego Faiello, he checked into the hotel Tuesday, renting a three-bedroom villa for $285 a night. Yesterday, he paid for five more nights — in cash.
Vincenzi, a famed criminal attorney in Costa Rica, later said Faiello was unaware he was the target of an international manhunt.
"He didn't know they were looking for him," the lawyer claimed.
Asked, then, why Faiello had hired a lawyer, Vincenzi replied, "He was nervous."
Faiello jumped bail in New York, where he had been charged with practicing medicine without a license, and apparently went to Costa Rica (search) in September.
He was technically held there on charges of overstaying his three-month tourist visa, which expired Dec. 19.
The move will give New York prosecutors time to prepare the paperwork to extradite Faiello on charges he killed Cruz, 35, during a botched medical procedure and buried her in the carriage house of his former Newark estate.
A U.S. judge signed an extradition warrant without filling in the charges Thursday. Prosecutors now have 60 days to formalize charges.
Costa Rican immigration director Mario Badilla ordered investigators to begin tracking Faiello on Tuesday after seeing the story of his bail-jumping on local TV. Using his credit-card records, six cops and immigration agents tracked him to Samara — 120 miles west of the capital, San Jose -- on Wednesday.
They found one address where they thought he was staying, but he wasn't there.
Thursday morning, they located him at the Villas Playa Samara, a hotel and time-share complex on a four-mile bay beach.
After making sure they had a positive identification, they arrested him at 4:10 p.m. New York time.
Wearing reflector sunglasses, a blue shirt, jeans and brown loafers, he was driven back to San Jose and lodged in a jail.
A faint smile on his face, he stared straight ahead without saying a word as reporters peppered him with questions.
Sources said Faiello looked thinner and his face less full than when he was arrested in October 2002 for practicing medicine without a license.
Friday, February 27, 2004
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Dean Faiello (search), the man authorities described as a fugitive fake doctor, was nabbed Thursday quaffing a drink at the pool bar of a swanky Costa Rican beach resort.
Police and immigration agents arrested Faiello — suspected of killing Manhattan investment banker Maria Cruz (search) and burying her in a concrete coffin — at the Hotel Villas Playa Samara in the Pacific Coast town of Samara.
Faiello, 44, was in swimming trunks and enjoying a drink with his new lawyer, Moises Vincenzi (search), when the officers arrived to take him. He seemed surprised but didn't resist.
Using the name Diego Faiello, he checked into the hotel Tuesday, renting a three-bedroom villa for $285 a night. Yesterday, he paid for five more nights — in cash.
Vincenzi, a famed criminal attorney in Costa Rica, later said Faiello was unaware he was the target of an international manhunt.
"He didn't know they were looking for him," the lawyer claimed.
Asked, then, why Faiello had hired a lawyer, Vincenzi replied, "He was nervous."
Faiello jumped bail in New York, where he had been charged with practicing medicine without a license, and apparently went to Costa Rica (search) in September.
He was technically held there on charges of overstaying his three-month tourist visa, which expired Dec. 19.
The move will give New York prosecutors time to prepare the paperwork to extradite Faiello on charges he killed Cruz, 35, during a botched medical procedure and buried her in the carriage house of his former Newark estate.
A U.S. judge signed an extradition warrant without filling in the charges Thursday. Prosecutors now have 60 days to formalize charges.
Costa Rican immigration director Mario Badilla ordered investigators to begin tracking Faiello on Tuesday after seeing the story of his bail-jumping on local TV. Using his credit-card records, six cops and immigration agents tracked him to Samara — 120 miles west of the capital, San Jose -- on Wednesday.
They found one address where they thought he was staying, but he wasn't there.
Thursday morning, they located him at the Villas Playa Samara, a hotel and time-share complex on a four-mile bay beach.
After making sure they had a positive identification, they arrested him at 4:10 p.m. New York time.
Wearing reflector sunglasses, a blue shirt, jeans and brown loafers, he was driven back to San Jose and lodged in a jail.
A faint smile on his face, he stared straight ahead without saying a word as reporters peppered him with questions.
Sources said Faiello looked thinner and his face less full than when he was arrested in October 2002 for practicing medicine without a license.
