Ambrozuk to fight extradition
By CHERY SABOL
The Daily Inter Lake
Jerry Ambrozuk, jailed in Texas, plans to fight extradition to Montana to face a murder charge, according to a police spokesman in Texas.
Ambrozuk, now 43, was a fugitive for 24 years after crashing a plane into Bitterroot Lake west of Kalispell in 1982. His girlfriend, Dianne Babcock, 18, drowned and Ambrozuk disappeared.
The Canadians pair were flying from Penticton, British Columbia, to Vancouver.
Ambrozuk was arrested Wednesday at his home in Plano, Texas, after Flathead County Sheriff Jim Dupont received a tip that Ambrozuk was living there under the name of Michael Lee Smith.
Officer Rick McDonald of the Plano Police Department said Smith was living alone at an upscale house with a pool. He was arrested with no trouble on a Montana warrant for negligent homicide and admitted that he is Jaroslaw "Jerry" Ambrozuk.
McDonald said Ambrozuk may have mistaken plain-clothes police with workers from the city water department because a notice had been posted on Ambrozuk's door that he violated restrictions by watering his lawn during a drought.
In an interview with the CBC in Vancouver, British Columbia, McDonald said Ambrozuk's family was notified that he had been found. At first, Ambrozuk's sister thought it was a crank phone call. She has not seen her brother since he was 19.
"She was excited and relieved," he said.
Ambrozuk is being held without bond in a "separation cell" in the Collin County jail in Texas, according to John Norton, public information officer with the Collin County Sheriff's Office. Norton said Ambrozuk's seclusion is because of the high profile of his case.
Ambrozuk reportedly is not taking visitors in jail.
A magistrate in Texas ordered that no bond be set for Ambrozuk, who also is being held on a federal retainer for alleged immigration violations. He has reportedly been living in the United States under an assumed name and Social Security number since 1982.
Norton said Ambrozuk does not yet have an attorney, although he asked for one as soon as he was arrested.
If he decides to fight extradition to Montana, it will require a warrant from Gov. Brian Schweitzer asking Texas to release Ambrozuk to Montana. That could take a month or two.
If Ambrozuk agrees to extradition, he could be back soon.
Norton said he believes an extradition hearing might be held in a week or two.
"He'll be with us for a couple, three, four weeks," Norton said Friday.
Reporter Chery Sabol may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at csabol@dailyinterlake.com