Mexican cops arrested in thefts from Rivera crash site
MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) - The remains of Mexican-American music star Jenni Rivera were headed back to the United States after being identified by her family, state officials said Thursday.
The Nuevo Leon state government announced that it had released the remains. State security spokesman Jorge Domene said earlier in the day that Rivera's family had made a positive identification but there would a delay of several days while DNA tests were completed. The government did not immediately explain the discrepancy.
Officials also said that two state police officers had been arrested on suspicion of stealing unspecified items from the scene of the plane crash that killed Rivera Sunday.
The Nuevo Leon state government said authorities also found images of the scene on the smartphone of one of the officers while trying to determine how the Mexican media obtained photographs of the secured site, including images of body parts and personal documents.
Investigators searched the homes of the officers who secured the crash site and found victims' belongings in two homes. The government said it then arrested the two officers.
The officers belong to a new state police force designed to be more effective and less corrupt.
Mexico's top transportation official said Tuesday that the plane carrying Rivera plunged almost vertically from more than 28,000 feet and hit the ground in a nose-dive at a speed that may have exceeded 600 mph.
Nuevo Leon Secretary of Communications and Transportation Gerardo Ruiz Esparza told Radio Formula that the twin-engine turbojet hit the ground 1.2 miles from where it began falling.
Ruiz did not offer any explanation for what may have caused the plane to plummet.
Ruiz said the pilot, Miguel Perez Soto, had a valid Mexican pilot's license that would have expired in January. Photos of a temporary pilot's certificate issued by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration found amid the wreckage said that Perez was 78 years old. The transportation department said Wednesday that he was flying on a U.S. pilot's license that had no limitations preventing him from flying from the northern Mexican city of Monterrey to the central city of Toluca early Sunday morning.
Ruiz said there is no age limit for flying a civil aviation aircraft, though for commercial flights it's 65. A pilot as old as 78 would be unusual in the United States.
The 43-year-old California-born Rivera known as the "Diva de la Banda" died while her career was peaking. She was perhaps the most successful female singer in grupero, a male-dominated Mexico regional style, and had branched out into acting and reality television.
The Nuevo Leon state government announced that it had released the remains. State security spokesman Jorge Domene said earlier in the day that Rivera's family had made a positive identification but there would a delay of several days while DNA tests were completed. The government did not immediately explain the discrepancy.
Officials also said that two state police officers had been arrested on suspicion of stealing unspecified items from the scene of the plane crash that killed Rivera Sunday.
The Nuevo Leon state government said authorities also found images of the scene on the smartphone of one of the officers while trying to determine how the Mexican media obtained photographs of the secured site, including images of body parts and personal documents.
Investigators searched the homes of the officers who secured the crash site and found victims' belongings in two homes. The government said it then arrested the two officers.
The officers belong to a new state police force designed to be more effective and less corrupt.
Mexico's top transportation official said Tuesday that the plane carrying Rivera plunged almost vertically from more than 28,000 feet and hit the ground in a nose-dive at a speed that may have exceeded 600 mph.
Nuevo Leon Secretary of Communications and Transportation Gerardo Ruiz Esparza told Radio Formula that the twin-engine turbojet hit the ground 1.2 miles from where it began falling.
Ruiz did not offer any explanation for what may have caused the plane to plummet.
Ruiz said the pilot, Miguel Perez Soto, had a valid Mexican pilot's license that would have expired in January. Photos of a temporary pilot's certificate issued by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration found amid the wreckage said that Perez was 78 years old. The transportation department said Wednesday that he was flying on a U.S. pilot's license that had no limitations preventing him from flying from the northern Mexican city of Monterrey to the central city of Toluca early Sunday morning.
Ruiz said there is no age limit for flying a civil aviation aircraft, though for commercial flights it's 65. A pilot as old as 78 would be unusual in the United States.
The 43-year-old California-born Rivera known as the "Diva de la Banda" died while her career was peaking. She was perhaps the most successful female singer in grupero, a male-dominated Mexico regional style, and had branched out into acting and reality television.
Having served in Central America, I can say that it has been my personal experience that 'honest policeman' did not enter much into conversation. And I wouldn't be surprised to find out that a piece of the wreckage ends up as a desk chatchski of the Minister of Justice for the state in question.
"The officers belong to a new state police force designed to be more effective and less corrupt."
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So much for that.....
New Mexican holiday, grave robbing day!
These people are welcomed to the State of Washington, Seattle, sanctuary city. come one, come all.
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Isn't the Country of Mexico just wonderful? Let's keep letting more in each day. Hopefully, in 15, 20 years, our Country will become just like thier shining example. It's the people. A Country is not a building.
 @sentryone Take off your racist cap for a minute and ponder the fact that the corruption that runs rampant in Mexico is fueled by the appetite for drugs of a large number of U.S. citizens.
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@OlyVonKanSheet @sentryone Not entirely. Part and parcel to Latino politics is what Yanquis call the 'el Patron' syndrome. It's similar to the ancient Roman clientage system in that if you take el Patron's money, gift, or patronage, you are expected to support him in whatever endeavor he's up to and that endeavor doesn't have to be legal by any stretch of the imagination. If, for example, Senor Duarte buys you a washing machine or gets your kid into a better school and Senor Duarte needs you to call the police to a given area so they won't be in another area, well, you bloody well have to do it.
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Furthermore, kidnapping for profit is an out-and-out industry in Mexico and our drug habits have nothing whatever to do with that. When the US State Department last issued a Travellers Advisory to US Citizens about Mexico, the entire Latino voting bloc was enraged and flooded the phones in DC.
Mexico what a wounderful place. Cops and government so corrupt. We should finish the walls and just shut the gate for good.
"The officers belong to a new state police force meant to be more effective and less corrupt than its predecessors."
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LOLÂ i can't stop laughing
I love that last sentence, hope others follow their example. Â What a couple of dummies, to not only steal but also to take pictures ! Â Obviously they thought they'd never be caught for either, and even if they were, to be prosecuted.
Sounds like those two cops failed to pay someone else their fair share of the loot and got ratted out.
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This is news Mexico's trademark is corrupt cops
The surprize is they discovered it AND did something about it.
Well so much for that idea, Mexico will never rid itself of corrupt police officers