(WEST POINT) A routine traffic stop in Columbia County ended with a man in jail after deputies discovered he was wanted on a felony warrant tied to a domestic violence case in Dane County.
A Columbia County sheriff’s deputy pulled over a vehicle around 6:30 p.m. Jan. 30 in the Town of West Point after seeing it speeding and failing to dim its high beams. During the stop, the driver struggled to provide identifying information and gave deputies multiple names and dates of birth.
The driver did not speak English, and deputies used an interpreter service to try to confirm his identity. Even with help from an interpreter fluent in the same language, deputies were unable to verify who he was after nearly an hour of checking multiple resources, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Believing the driver was intentionally concealing his identity, the deputy arrested him on suspicion of obstructing an officer and took him to the Columbia County Jail. Deputies later identified him through fingerprinting as Roberto Briones Arauz of Nicaragua, who had been living in Prairie du Sac.
Once identified, deputies learned Arauz was wanted on a felony warrant from a 2022 Dane County case involving sexual assault, false imprisonment, strangulation and suffocation, battery, and disorderly conduct, all related to domestic violence. Authorities also learned he had previously been deported from the United States in 2023.
Arauz appeared in Columbia County Circuit Court this week and was charged with obstructing an officer and felony bail jumping. He remains in the Columbia County Jail on a $500 cash bond.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was notified of the arrest and has placed a detainer on him, the Sheriff’s Office said. The Sauk County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the case.
