John McAfee, the antivirus software pioneer
sought by police in connection with a
murder in Belize, was arrested yesterday Dec 5th by
Guatemalan police for entering the country
illegally.
McAfee was arrested with the help of
Interpol agents at a hotel in an upscale
Guatemala City neighborhood, Interior
Minister Mauricio Lopez Bonilla said,
according to the Associated Press.
Guatemala will seek to have him expelled
from the country, Bonilla said, according
to Reuters, although there is no
international arrest warrant for McAfee,
and it was not immediately clear to which
country he would be deported.
The 67-year-old founder of the company
that bears his name recently crossed over
into Guatemala to seek asylum from
officials in Belize, which have been
pursuing him for the past few weeks in
connection with the shooting death of his
neighbor. McAfee has been on the run
since November 12, when his neighbor
Gregory Faull, a contractor and restaurant
owner, was discovered with a bullet in his
head.
McAfee and Faull had reportedly had run-
ins with each other over McAfee's dogs and
armed security guards. In an interview with
Wired that same day, McAfee said he
thought the killers had actually been
looking for him and not Faull.
McAfee said yesterday he had hired the
former attorney general of Guatamala --
who also happens to be his girlfriend's
uncle -- to help him as he tries to set up a
meeting with the prime minister of Belize
on "neutral ground." In a blog post
yesterday, McAfee described his new
lawyer, Telesforo Guerra, as "one of the
most prominent attorneys in Guatemala,"
who is "well versed in the intricate system
of corruption with the Belizean
Government."
McAfee's location in Guatemala was
revealed Monday when a post from Vice
Magazine, which had reporters following
McAfee on his trip, included a photo with
metadata attached .
McAfee has told the media that he's being
wrongfully persecuted by officials in Belize
and that he fears for his life if he is
arrested. "If I survive the 30 days [until
the government is required to charge an
accused criminal], which I doubt very
strongly -- lots of people do die in prison
here from strangling on their own vomit,
hanging themselves because they're too
miserable, or getting beaten to death by
fellow inmates or a variety of other
things...if I do survive the 30 days, then
some judge will go, 'You're guilty. Period.'"
The bizarre chain of events include a raid
on McAfee's house in May in which police
said they found multiple unlicensed
firearms and McAfee with a 17-year-old
girl. They also said he was manufacturing
an antibiotic in his home without a license.
About a week after Faull's murder, McAfee
began writing a blog that chronicled his
efforts to hide from the police. In one
post, McAfee writes that he is traveling
with a 20-year-old woman named
Samantha, whom he credits with helping to
keep him fed, clothed, and in hiding.
"She has also helped me evade detection by
grabbing me and kissing me, in public, in a
fashion that causes passerby's to feel
embarrassment at the thought of staring
and by creating emotional scenes that
cause the curious to momentarily forget
what they were looking for," he wrote.
"She is acutely aware of her surroundings
and is as street smart as a sober hobo."
http://m.cnet.com/news/john-mcafee-reportedly-arrested-in-guatemala/57557438