Story aired: Monday, 5:30pm
LEE COUNTY, Fla.- The accused gunman in the shooting death of Fort Myers police officer Andrew Widman was no stranger to the law.

He served six years in state prison. The State Attorney's Office says they charged him as an adult at the age of 17 on charges out of Collier County that included robbery with a deadly weapon and burglary.

Arango is a Cuban national and because of that status, Immigration and Customs Enforcement tried to deport him.

He was released to Immigration custody in 2004 once he served his sentence and held while ICE officials tried to deport him.

ICE was unsuccessful in doing so due to strained relations between the United States and Cuba.

Due to federal law, ICE cannot hold someone for more than 180 days, so Arango was released on supervision.

ICE sent this statement to WINK News regarding his release, "Under the Zadvydas ruling, an alien's criminal history, including violent offenses, does not permit the government to continue detention."

Arango appeared to law low for a few years, but was back in trouble again in May.

This time, it was in Lee County. The Lee County Sheriff's Office says Arango was arrested on Fort Myers Beach after selling cocaine to undercover detectives.

He was booked into the Lee County Jail on May 16, and was released less than 24 hours later after posting bond.

He was given a very high bond for the cocaine trafficking charges according to Chief Charles Ferrante with the Lee County Sheriff's Office. A judge set his bond at $100,000.

WINK News spoke with the Florida Department of Corrections and we are told, this arrest triggered a warrant for his arrest for violation of probation.

The warrant was signed on May 29th, according to DOC, by a Collier County Judge. DOC spokesperson tells WINK News, it was then the task of the Collier County Sheriff's Office to locate Arango.

The Sheriff's Office tells WINK News deputies tried numerous times to locate Arango at his brother and sister's homes, but never found him.

Turns out, Arango was in Lee County.

The Collier County Sheriff's Office tells us, had they known he was in Lee County, they would have contacted Lee County to pick him up.

It is not known whether Arango knew he had a warrant for his arrest and his attorney would not comment due to attorney-client privileges.

WINK News has learned, Arango appeared in a Lee County courtroom for an arraignment on his drug charges on June 16th, while the warrant was active.

But, he was never picked up.

We asked court administrators how this happened. We are told backgrounds on people appearing for arraignment are not usually run due to the volume of people. The Lee County Sheriff's Office says it found out there were more than 1,400 people in court that day.

Arango pleaded not guilty to the drug charges and was ordered to return to court next month for a case management conference.

It is a court date that will never come, after police say he gunned down Officer Andrew Widman early Friday morning. Arango was shot and killed by police after investigators say he exchanged gunfire with other responding officers.

Arango's attorney, Steven Leskovich, says it is impossible to know why he just snapped, but he was potentially looking at serving a lot of time on the drug and violation of probation charges. Leskovich tells us Arango was looking at a minimum of 10 years.

Leskovich also says Arango shared a ten month old child with his girlfriend, Crystal Tercotte. She is the woman police say Arango was arguing with just prior to shooting Officer Widman at point blank range.

Officer Widman is survived by a wife and three young children.