The Legend of Robocop -- US Marshals Most Wanted

THE LEGEND OF 'ROBOCOP'

In the early 1990's, Puerto Rico was emerging as one of the most disputed and violent turfs in the ever-expanding cocaine trade.  Gun battles erupted on the streets of San Juan between heavily armed narco-traffickers and their rivals.  Police in San Juan soon found themselves outgunned by the narcos, who were toting the latest, high-powered machine guns that were smuggled onto the island from the U.S.  On February 4, 1992, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms busted one of those gun runners en route to Puerto Rico from Miami with suitcases full of guns and ammunition.  His name was Raymond Abbott Baerga, but he is generally known to law enforcement as Raymond Abbott.   Abbott was busted by a determined BATF agent named Reinaldo Rodriguez.  For years cops and feds had heard of this mysterious man called 'Robocop', but it wasn't until agent Rodriquez got on the case that the real man behind the street moniker emerged. 

Abbott pleaded guilty in April of 1992 and was sentenced to serve prison time in Puerto Rico.  During his stint behind bars, Abbott openly expressed his contempt and hatred for agent Rodriguez and threatened to kill him. 

Robocop Escapes

After threatening the life of a federal agent, Abbott was moved to the Super Max prison in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico.  On July 3, 1992, Abbott escaped from the maximum security prison with guard's bullets whizzing past him.  Investigators later learned that he had trained for months, doing push ups, jumping from cell tier to cell tier, all in preparation for his escape.  After making a clean getaway, BATF agents circled the wagons around agent Rodriguez and shipped him back to the U.S. for his own safety.  No one doubted that Abbott intended to make good on his threat to kill the agent who'd sent him to prison.  Ten days after he escaped Abbott's grandmother claimed that she'd received a call from her fugitive grandson in which he stated that he would not go back to prison until he had killed agent Rodriguez.

Twelve Years on The Run

LIKE A PHANTOM

Although there were many rumors floating around that Abbott was dead, from the summer of 1992 until the spring of 2004, BATF agents and the U.S. Marshals worked on tracking down Abbott.  Year after year, they would find signs that Abbott was still active in the cartel world, but rumors also swirled that he was HIV positive, and might well have died from AIDS while on the run.  Their task was complicated by Abbott's extensive connections to the Columbian and Puerto Rican drug cartels.  Without evidence to the contrary, investigators believe Abbott is indeed still alive and probably still functioning as a weapons supplier to drug organizations. Marshals believe he is still insulated within the drug cartel underworld.