Traffic stop leads to arrest of man wanted for murder in El Salvador

Carlos Ernesto Lozano Rodriguez was subject of Interpol alert

Carlos Ernesto Lozano Rodriguez is accused of murder in El Salvador.

TAMARAC, Fla. – A man wanted on murder charges in El Salvador was arrested this week after he blocked traffic while driving in Tamarac, attracting the attention of a Broward County sheriff's deputy, authorities said.

Veda Coleman-Wright, a spokeswoman for the Broward County Sheriff's Office, said Carlos Ernesto Lozano Rodriguez, 26, had entered the U.S. illegally and was living in North Lauderdale.

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On Monday, Rodriguez was driving along West McNab Road near Northwest 70th Avenue when he stopped his blue Cadillac, blocking traffic, Coleman-Wright said. A deputy conducted a traffic stop and found that Rodriguez did not have a valid Florida driver's license, but Rodriguez gave the deputy his El Salvadorian passport as identification, according to the arrest report.

The deputy input Rodriguez's name into national crime databases and found that Rodriguez was the subject of an Interpol alert. El Salvador authorities had issued an international warrant for his arrest on murder charges. The deputy, along with a Sunrise police officer, took Rodriguez into custody after he briefly resisted, the report said.

Rodriguez was later transferred to the custody of agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the report said.

In the Interpol notice, Rodriguez was described as armed and dangerous and a documented gang member. Rodriguez had been deported from the U.S. in 2015, but he re-entered the country after paying a smuggler $10,000, deputies said.