Ex-Peru president, wanted by Interpol, arrested in Menlo Park for public intoxication

Authorities say former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo was arrested on March 17, 2019 in Menlo Park on charges of public intoxication. Authorities say former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo was arrested on March 17, 2019 in Menlo Park on charges of public intoxication. Photo: San Mateo County Sheriff's Office Photo: San Mateo County Sheriff's Office Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Ex-Peru president, wanted by Interpol, arrested in Menlo Park for public intoxication 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

REDWOOD CITY, California (AP) — Authorities say a former Peruvian president who is wanted in connection with Latin America's biggest graft scandal was arrested in California on suspicion of public intoxication over the weekend and was briefly detained.

San Mateo County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Rosemerry Blankswade said Monday that Alejandro Toledo was arrested Sunday night near a restaurant in Menlo Park.

Toledo was released early Monday morning and the charge was dropped, as is routine for suspects arrested on suspicion of public drunkenness.

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Peruvian authorities have offered a $30,000 reward for Toledo's capture. Blankswade says Interpol officials told jailers they had no interest in immediately extraditing or holding Toledo.

Toledo has been in the United States since 2007, when he was named a visiting scholar at Stanford. As a 19-year-old, Toledo moved to the Bay Area when, with the help of Peace Corps volunteers, he was awarded a partial scholarship to the University of San Francisco.

According to a 2007 San Francisco Chronicle profile, Toledo worked the overnight shift at a Van Ness gas station while attending college. In 1970, he was accepted into the Stanford School of Education; he graduated with two master's degrees and a doctorate.

Prosecutors have accused Toledo, who was the president of Peru from 2001-06, of taking $20 million in bribes from Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht. He's been wanted by Interpol since Feb. 2017.

He has denied wrongdoing.