Andrea Dorothy Chan Reyes refused to surrender to FBI three weeks before her arrest in Adelaide
A US businesswoman wanted by the FBI over the alleged hit-run death of a cyclist refused to voluntarily surrender to authorities just three weeks before her arrest in Adelaide, court documents reveal.
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A US businesswoman wanted by the FBI over the alleged hit-run death of a cyclist refused to voluntarily surrender to authorities just three weeks before her arrest in Adelaide, court documents reveal.
Andrea Dorothy Chan Reyes, 33, was arrested in Adelaide’s northern suburbs on April 17, almost three weeks after her American lawyer told authorities in the United States that she would not surrender.
Court documents, released to The Advertiser, state Chan Reyes’ US-based criminal defence lawyer said he “spoke with Chan Reyes on March 28, 2018, and relayed that Chan Reyes would not surrender”.
Chan Reyes, who remains in the Adelaide Women’s Prison awaiting extradition, allegedly fled Los Angeles to Hong Kong five days after running down father of four Agustin Rodriguez Jr, 46, early on January 30, 2017.
The Filipino-born financial analyst, controller and fraud auditor is accused of vehicular manslaughter, hit-run driving resulting in death and destroying or concealing evidence over the hit-run death of Mr Rodriguez in Whittier, in LA’s inner south.
She was tracked to Adelaide and, acting on an FBI international fugitive warrant, the Australian Federal Police arrested her at a home in Paralowie, where she was living with her Australian boyfriend.
Court documents show Chan Reyes, who has multiple aliases, was married in the US, and also had a boyfriend in Nevada.
A US arrest warrant dated close to the time of her Australian arrest indicates the “defendant is to be admitted to bail in the amount of US$1 million, or almost AU$1.4 million.
The documents show Chan Reyes flew from Australia to Hong Kong for three weeks in August 2017 before returning to Australia.
She again flew to Hong Kong on September 1, 2017, returning to Australia almost four weeks later on September 27, 2017.
During that time, documents also show her mother Frances Chan was in Hong Kong from August 3, 2017, to October 25, 2017, before she returned to the US.
Chan Reyes’ mother told authorities she had “recently had heart surgery, was unaware of her daughter’s location, and that she may be in Australia, and that the last time she physically had seen her daughter was February or March 2017”.
The documents also state Chan Reyes has an “extensive” network of family and had “obtained support” from people in Nevada and Australia.
The Adelaide Magistrates Court heard this week Chan Reyes extradition to the US had been delayed as her new Australian legal team seeks bail.
Chan Reyes’ Adelaide lawyer and boyfriend both declined to comment yesterday.
The case returns to court next month.
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