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Crime & Safety

Baldwin Park Gang Homicide Suspect Accidentally Released

Johny Mata, a 32-year-old suspect in a 2010 Baldwin Park gang homicide, was released this morning from the sheriff's Inmate Reception Center.

A murder suspect was accidentally released from L.A. County Jail because a processing clerk had failed to enter "hold'' information into the inmate's computer file, the sheriff's department announced today.

Johnny Mata, 32, who is charged in a 2010 Baldwin Park gang killing, was released April 4th from the sheriff's Inmate Reception Center in downtown Los Angeles, Nicole Nishida of the sheriff's department said.

The delay in reporting the mistaken release was not due to embarrassment over the error, Nishida said.

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"The detectives were actively searching for him and finally decided to ask for the public's help today,'' Nishida said.

Nishida said she did not know when the charges were filed against Mata.

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Mata, a resident of El Monte, was arrested by El Monte police on May 25, 2012 as a suspect in the gang murder, according to jail records. He had been scheduled to appear in court in Pomona on April 25 but it was unclear what that case involved.

Mata is 6 feet 1 inch tall, weighs 197 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes, Nishida said.

Anyone with information on Mata's whereabouts was asked to call the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500 or LA Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477. All tips can be made anonymously.

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