Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Fugitive turned in by fiancee

One of America's "most wanted" fugitives faces deportation from Canada this week after his new fiancee turned him in to police.

Mikhail Drachev, 24, was arrested in Toronto on Friday after his fiancee tipped off police about his identity. He had been living as a fugitive on a murder warrant for more than five years.

"It looks like she's been living with him for at least five years. They first met in Ottawa. They lived in Ottawa for a short time before moving to Toronto," Toronto police Staff Sgt. Paul MacIntyre told CTV's Canada AM on Monday.

Phoenix Detective Stacie Derge said Drachev had been living in Toronto under an alias, and decided a couple of weeks ago to reveal his identity before proposing.

"They were living in a common-law relationship since probably 2001, 2002. And just last week, he came clean, if you will, with his true identity to her," MacIntyre said.

Drachev's fiancee looked up his name online and found his profile on the "America's Most Wanted" website.

But Derge says she didn't tell police about Drachev until Friday, after the couple had some sort of domestic dispute.

"She walked into one of our Toronto police stations out in the city's west end, and she told the officers there that she believed that was living with somebody who was profiled on "America's Most Wanted" TV show," MacIntyre said.

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