MARICOPA COUNTY, Ariz. – Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell refuses to extradite a man who is wanted for a homicide in New York before Arizona deals with him. The prosecutor noted the soft-on-crime policies of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as her reason to refuse extradition at the present time.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Mitchell said she won’t extradite 26-year-old Raad Almansoori, who is wanted in New York for the killing of a sex worker. The “career criminal” is facing charges in Maricopa County after he reportedly stabbed two women. Mitchell said she would not send the suspect back while he faces attempted murder charges in Arizona, citing Bragg’s questionable track record on prosecuting dangerous criminals, FOX News reported.
On Thursday, the Arizona prosecutor told FOX & Friends host Ainsley Earhardt, “I’m putting the victims first and making sure that he stays in custody.”
“This is not casting aspersions on NYPD, but… it was just a couple of weeks ago that some of the illegal immigrants that were in New York City who beat up on police officers were let go. They were flipping the camera off as they walked out of jail, and guess where they ended up? Four of them ended up in Maricopa County, and they had to be taken into custody here,” Mitchell said.
“I don’t want that to happen. I don’t want this individual getting out and be able to victimize more people,” she continued.
“I know there’s been a discussion about New York wanting to extradite this individual and this is not aimed at the New York Police Department at all,” Mitchell said. “I know they did a hard job, a good job, but we will not be agreeing to extradition.”
“I’ve instructed my extradition attorneys not to agree to that. We’re going to keep him here, these are mandatory prison sentences,” she said.
“And having observed the treatment of violent criminals in the New York area by the Manhattan D.A. there, Alvin Bragg, I think it’s safer to keep him here and keep him in custody so that he cannot be out and doing this to individuals either in our state or county or anywhere in the United States,” Mitchell emphasized.
Bragg’s office was unhappy with Mitchell’s decision, and called it “deeply disturbing,” while accusing her of playing “political games.”
“It is deeply disturbing that DA Mitchell is playing political games in a murder investigation,” Emily Tuttle, a representative for Bragg, said Wednesday in a statement.
“New York’s murder rate is less than half of that of Phoenix, because of the hard work of the NYPD. It is a slap in the face to them and to the victim in our case to refuse to allow us to seek justice and full accountability for a New Yorker’s death.”
Mitchell referred to Almansoori as “dangerous and violent.” The man is wanted by the NYPD for the horrific killing of 38-year-old Denisse Oleas-Arancibia, a mother of two who was found dead inside the SoHo 54 Hotel on Watts Street on Feb. 8. The victim was fatally beaten over the head with an iron, FOX reported.
Surveillance video appeared to show Almansoori stepping out onto the streets wearing the victim’s leggings before apparently fleeing to Phoenix, Arizona.
Police say Raad Almansoori was seen wearing Denisse Oleas-Arancibia’s leggings after she was killed. (NYPD)
Denisse Oleas-Arancibia, who was killed two weeks ago in a New York City hotel. (Image via Fox 5)
Prosecutors accused Almansoori of stabbing a woman in Phoenix while stealing her car. He then made his way to a suburban McDonald’s, where prosecutors say he stabbed another woman and tried to rape her inside the bathroom before police arrested him earlier this week.
After his arrest in Scottsdale, he allegedly told police to “Google the SoHo 54 hotel,” the building where the NYPD alleges he murdered Oleas-Arancibia. According to authorities, he also claimed to have hurt three more women in Florida, reported FOX.
“We have two very violent crimes here. We have two women that were stabbed, and he is facing a lengthy mandatory prison sentence here, and even though there was a homicide in New York, we can guarantee that he is going to stay in custody here,” Mitchell said.
Raad Almansoori (Surprise Police Department)
Furthermore, Almansoori was out on bail at the time of Oleas-Arancibia’s murder on charges that he kidnapped another sex worker and sexually assaulted her in Sumter County, Florida, in 2023, according to FOX.
“Let me be very clear,” Mitchell continued. “My heart goes out to the next of kin of the victim in New York. And… I’m not casting aspersions on the NYPD, either. They did a hard job in putting this case together, but we have a case here, and we have him in custody.”
Mitchell emphasized that Maricopa County has the right to prosecute the case first as they seek to secure a prison sentence before the accused killer is extradited to New York.
“Since we have serious offenses here, we have the right to keep him where he is,” Mitchell concluded. “So we’re going to do that, and I want to be very clear to the public, we’re not saying that he will never be prosecuted in New York for what he did, but we’re saying we’re going first. And that way, when we secure a prison sentence on him, that has to be honored when he is extradited to New York City.”
Almansoori is currently being held in the Maricopa County Jail. He faces up to 21 years in prison per attempted murder charge if he’s convicted Arizona.
