The Shamokin Dam Police Department announced Tuesday that a man wanted for stealing from a deceased man was found in Puerto Rico earlier this year and extradited back to the U.S. this week for arraignment.

According to Shamokin Dam Police Chief Tim Bremigen, 33-year-old Jose Miguel Hernandez-Thurbus was taken into custody by authorities in Puerto Rico on May 4th, 2022, on a warrant issued by SDPD in January 2019.

Officials say the warrant stems from an investigation into the death of a man at a Shamokin Dam hotel in December 2018. Hernandez-Thurbus is said to have worked at the hotel at the time and found the man dead before police arrived, giving him the opportunity to steal the man's credit cards.

After the initial death investigation, SDPD was contacted by a family member of the deceased and informed that there were transactions on the deceased's bank accounts after his death.

SDPD investigated and found many stores with surveillance footage showing Hernandez-Thurbus purchasing cigarettes and snacks totaling $492.72 over the course of a few days.

Chief Bremigen says that Hernandez-Thurbus then fled the area to Puerto Rico but was located by authorities in May.

Hernandez-Thurbus was in custody in Puerto Rico before being turned over to SDPD at the Harrisburg Airport on Tuesday.

He was placed in Snyder County Prison on the following charges:

• 4 counts of felony forgery
• 1 count of access device fraud
• 8 counts of theft by unlawful taking
• 8 counts of receiving stolen property
• 1 count of abuse of a corpse
• 7 counts of possessing access device knowing counterfeit, altered

Hernandez-Thurbus's bail was set at $250K. His preliminary hearing is set for July 13th and 12:30 PM.

Chief Bremigen would like to point out that Hernandez-Thurbus is not a suspect in the death investigation, as that case has already been closed.