The arrest of American Moisés Tejada in the vicinity of Saint Peter’s Square on Wednesday, April 10, has sparked shock and worry, given that the individual is sought by the NY Authorities for his alleged participation in a series of violent crimes.
— ZenitEnglish (@zenitenglish) April 26, 2024
Tejada’s arrest was first reported earlier this month by la Repubblica, a daily newspaper in Italy, with the lead sentence (in Italian): “What was an American armed like a butcher doing in Rome?”
Tejada, “posing as a potential customer of a realtor who was showing him the inside of a home, pointed a gun at the realtor, handcuffed him to a pole, and robbed him of personal property including his car” in Suffolk County, Long Island, according to a judge who summed up the case against him in a 2004 appeal of a 1999 conviction.
Tejada also committed “a nearly-identical crime … against another realtor” in Brooklyn, according to the appeals court decision upholding the Suffolk County conviction.
He was sentenced to 20 years to life.
Tejada began serving his time in state prison on the kidnapping and robbery convictions in March 2000, state corrections officials told CNA on Tuesday. He was released on parole in May 2018 but was returned to prison in January 2022 for violating the terms of release.
