Immigration deports American convicted of robbery

MANILA, Philippines - Bureau of Immigration deported on Tuesday evening a 58-year-old American, who has reportedly been convicted for armed robbery and wanted for multiple counts of fraud and theft charges in the United States.

In a statement, BI Deportation Unit head Antonio Rivera said that Robert Long Wood, a native of Montana, boarded a Philippine Airlines flight 104 bound to San Francisco at around 10 p.m. on July 13. Long Wood reportedly uses the aliases Dennis Blanchard, Ryan Dale and Robert Woods.

The US Department of State-Diplomatic Security Service sought the assistance of the BI to locate and arrest Long Wood who, aside from his armed robbery conviction, is wanted to stand trial before the courts in Montana and Idaho on charges of several counts of passport fraud and theft, respectively.

Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan issued a deportation warrant against the foreigner. He was apprehended inside his house in Mintal, Da-vao City July 7 by joint elements of the National Bureau of Investigation, BI Interpol Unit and the Philippine National Police.

BI Interpol Unit chief Flora Balato, Jr. said that the American tried to resist arrest and allegedly wanted to commit suicide by trying to stab himself. “The agents were able to grab the suspect and the object embedded in the woods which turned out to be a five-inch knife,” Balato said.

The BI received information that Long Wood had been paranoid for several weeks thinking that his former business partners allegedly wanted to kill him. He was later brought by the arresting team to a local hospital for treatment of his self-inflicted wounds and xxx transported to Manila where he was detained at the Bicutan Immigration jail while waiting for the deportation proceedings.