Story Created:
Dec 9, 2009 at 9:27 AM EST
Story Updated:
Dec 9, 2009 at 9:27 AM EST
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Prosecutors don't understand how a fugitive wanted in New Jersey worked for the Homeland Security Department in
Georgia despite a nationwide alert for her arrest.
Tahaya Buchanan was sought on a 2007 indictment on charges of staging the theft of her Range Rover.
Paul Loriquet (LOR'-ih-kay) of the Essex County Prosecutor's Office says the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in
Atlanta was unaware of the 39-year-old's status even after Buchanan was arrested in July during a traffic stop in which police noticed
the warrant.
Immigration spokeswoman Ana Santiago tells The Star-Ledger of Newark she did not have information whether the office regularly
checks its employee list against national criminal warrants.
Buchanan pleaded guilty to one charge of insurance fraud on Monday and faces three months probation.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
