The Latest: Ex-Peru president brushes off detention queries

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — The Latest on the public drunkenness arrest of Peru’s former president (all times local):

2:20 p.m.

Former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo brushed off questions about his arrest on suspicion of public drunkenness during a radio interview.

Toledo also declined to discuss his detention with Peru’s RPP radio, saying “I’m not falling into that trap.”

San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Rosemerry Blankswade says Toledo was arrested at a San Francisco Bay Area restaurant Sunday and spent the night in jail before his release Monday morning.

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Toledo was Peru’s president from 2001 to 2006 and has lived in California in recent years. He was a visiting scholar at Stanford University in 2017.

He is wanted in his home country on accusations of taking $20 million in bribes from Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht. He has denied wrongdoing.

While he was president, Toledo’s presidential aircraft became known as the “party plane” after a government official was caught on camera drunkenly singing a popular Spanish-language tune called “Pass me the Bottle” during a flight to Europe.

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12:15 p.m.

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 near the San Francisco Bay city of Menlo Park.

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

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.

Prosecutors have accused Toledo of taking $20 million in bribes from Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht. He has denied wrongdoing.

The Associated Press