jail inmate in Arizona said he attacked a guard so he wouldn't be freed and become an assassination target for members of a drug cartel, authorities said.

Thursday, April 28


Alexandro Guerrero, 26, awaiting release from the Pinal County Adult Detention Center April 17, punched a detention officer in the face and continued hitting and kicking him to the ground, The Arizona Republic reported Tuesday.

Pinal County Sheriff's Office spokesman Tim Gaffney said the Yuma inmate, who was serving time for an outstanding failure-to-comply warrant, told authorities at one time he was involved with a drug cartel in Mexico known as "Los Zetas."

Guerrero said the gang labeled him a snitch and put out a "hit" after hearing he had leaked information about them to an unnamed law enforcement agency, Gaffney said.

"This criminal brutally assaulted one of our finest detention officers because he had a death threat against himself and he believed he would be killed by the cartels upon his release. Our deputies and detention officers already have a very difficult job and it is made tougher by the impact of drug and human smuggling," Pinal Sheriff Paul Babeu said.

The detention officer suffered a broken nose and a wound requiring numerous stitches, the newspaper said.

Guerrero was booked back into the detention center on three counts of aggravated assault on a detention officer and is being held on a $50,000 cash-only bail.

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