ICE arrests man who escaped Illinois prison in 2003

Jorge Soberanis-Rumaldo (Courtesy: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

CHICAGO (AP) - A man who escaped from an Illinois prison in 2003 while serving an eight-year sentence on a drug charge has been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at his home in Atlanta.

Jorge Soberanis-Rumaldo was taken into custody Friday by as part of an immigration enforcement that targeted criminals, according to an ICE news release. Authorities say Soberanis-Rumaldo is a Mexican national who is in the U.S. illegally.

Soberanis-Rumaldo was convicted in March 2003 of a felony charge of cocaine possession and sentenced to eight years in Stateville Correctional Center, about 40 miles southwest of Chicago. Authorities say he escaped while on a work detail in June 2003.

It's unclear where the 58-year-old spent the past 14 years, and authorities didn't disclose how they located him.

Soberanis-Rumaldo was booked into the DeKalb County jail near Atlanta and is awaiting extradition to Illinois, where he faces additional criminal charges related to his escape.

ICE has filed an immigration detainer and will seek to have Soberanis-Rumaldo removed from the U.S. after any criminal charges are resolved, according to the news release.