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Suspect disfigures self for naught (This article is reprinted from the March 9, 1999 issue of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Thanks to Dale Falicon, LASD, for the contribution.)
by RUBY GONZALES EL MONTE – A man who chewed the skin off his fingertips while in jail so police couldn't identify him found that he nibbled for naught. El Monte police, who said they never saw such a thing, finally got some usable prints a day later when his fingerprint ridges resurfaced – prints that led to nine names, six birth dates and five other outstanding warrants. “Who thought he would bite off his fingerprints?” said Lt. Craig Sperry. “It looked like the ends of his fingers were scraped off.” Juan Raul Benaviedez, 25, will be arraigned today at Rio Hondo Municipal Court on a charge of falsely representing himself to an officer and on warrants for spousal abuse and being under the influence of a controlled substance. The five other warrants were from other police agencies and included petty theft, being an unlicensed driver and grand theft auto. Benaviedez was arrested early Saturday in the 3800 block of Baldwin Avenue on a domestic abuse warrant under the name of Christian Cordova. But he gave different names to officers at the station, and before he was fingerprinted, a jailer noticed he was keeping himself busy in the holding cell. The jailer thought he was biting his nails. “Who chews off their fingerprints in custody?” asked Sperry. Benaviedez told officers he didn't chew off the skin but scraped them off on the screen in the cell. Police said they certainly would have noticed him doing that. Since officer couldn't get any fingerprints on Saturday, they were left with a mystery man. But a day later, Lt. John Burkhart said, they were able to get prints. “He didn't chew his fingers deep enough. Chewing only works temporarily,” Burkhart joked. “Chopping off the fingers really works.”
This article was printed in “THE PRINT” |