US marshals here to collect alleged white power offender

American and Israeli authorities are currently coordinating arrangements for Micky Louis Mayon to be returned to the US to stand trial.

By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER, YAAKOV LAPPIN
micky louis mayon 248 88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
micky louis mayon 248 88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
WASHINGTON - American and Israeli authorities are currently coordinating arrangements for Micky Louis Mayon to be returned to the US to stand trial. The American citizen, arrested in Tel Aviv on Monday, is wanted in connection with a 2007 incident, according to US marshals who were involved in tracking him. The marshals will be accompanying Mayon back to America in the coming days. The US marshals possessed information that Mayon was in Israel and contacted Israeli authorities to enlist their support, one of the marshals told The Jerusalem Post, though he wouldn't elaborate on the nature of the information. However, the Web site of America's Most Wanted, a Fox TV show that works closely with law enforcement to publicize the cases of wanted individuals, said that a tip from a viewer had led to the capture of Mayon. The site also described him as a "white power activist" and allegedly behind the torching of the car of a judge he was supposed to appear before. But a public announcement put out by marshals on Wednesday referred only to charges of reckless endangerment and possession of a weapon stemming from an incident in which shots were fired, after which he was charged with fleeing the authorities. They agency referred all questions on Mayon's background to police from Steelton, Pennsylvania, in whose jurisdiction he is alleged to have committed the crimes with which he is charged. Steelton is a small town 5 km. southeast of Harrisburg, the state capital. "We don't have any information that he's connected to any supremacist group," Steelton Police chief Scott Spangler told the Post, adding that he had "no idea" what led the TV show and international press reports to say that Mayon was involved with white extremist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nation. Asked where claims of Mayon's affiliation with the KKK originated, Tziki Sela, commander of the National Immigration Authority's Oz unit, the division involved in capturing Mayon, said, "I think that's not important. He was a high-value wanted fugitive, and we received an important request from Interpol and the US Embassy to apprehend him. That's why we prioritized his capture." Sela denied that the newly formed Oz unit exaggerated Mayon's activities in order to garner positive public relations from his capture. "Two US marshals will arrive in the coming days to take Mayon back. Their immediate arrival, and the fact that the Americans are paying for his flight back, though we offered to pay for it, is proof of how sought-after Mayon was," he said, adding that the US Embassy had also asked for Mayon's arrest. "We prioritized his capture because we were told by the Americans that he was an important fugitive. This is the heart of the matter," Sela said. Though he was not on a list of the 100 Most Wanted criminals - the marshals said they do not keep such a list, despite press reports saying he was on it - typically only serious offenders are profiled on America's Most Wanted. Spangler described Mayon's alleged crimes as "pretty significant." He added, "I'm glad that he's being brought back to the US and will be brought to justice in a court in the United States."