The father of a Los Angeles police officer wanted for murder has been charged with making a false statement to an FBI agent, the FBI said Thursday in a press release.
Victor Manuel Solis, 53, was arrested in Lancaster, California, in connection with the ongoing search for Henry Solis, a rookie officer with the L.A. police who is believed to have entered Mexico from El Paso, Texas, the FBI said.
An FBI complaint said a video recording at the border crossing showed father and son entering Mexico together at 5:40 a.m. March 14, even though the elder Solis told an agent he dropped his son at an El Paso bus station and didn’t know where he went.
Victor Solis “knowingly and willingly lied during the interview in order to thwart law enforcement investigative efforts,” the complaint said.
Henry Solis is accused of killing Salome Rodriguez Jr. early in the morning of March 13 in Pomona, California. Items left by Solis at the crime scene allowed Pomona police detectives to identify him “as the individual responsible for killing Rodriguez,” according to an FBI affidavit.
Victor Solis told the FBI on March 16 that his son called on March 13, said he wanted to spend some vacation time in El Paso, and rode with his father to that Texas city, the complaint said. Victor Solis said that after dropping off his son at the bus station, he later crossed into Mexico alone, the complaint said.
The FBI said Victor Solis will be taken to El Paso for prosecution. Henry Solis’ whereabouts are not known..
