CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SAN DIEGO : TV Helps U.S. Agent Identify Fugitive

A federal drug agent watching a television program about unsolved crimes recognized an escaped murderer from a Florida prison as a man he arrested in San Diego on cocaine charges, authorities said. The agent called the television program’s toll-free number and told a Florida Department of Law Enforcement officer that he had arrested fugitive Emilio Bravo under the alias Ernesto Cruz Gonzalez. Fingerprint checks confirmed that Cruz, who was arrested Sept. 22 in a federal sting operation, actually was one of Florida’s most wanted fugitives, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman said in San Diego. Bravo, 31, was in custody at the Metropolitan Correction Center in downtown San Diego on charges of conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to sell.