Update: The Sedona Police Department has captured fugitive Laura “Mariposa” Marcos.

On Wednesday, May 20, at approximately 8 a.m., fugitive Laura “Mariposa” Marcos was contacted and arrested at a Sedona food bank for three extradictable felony warrants out of New Jersey.

Sedona police officers received a tip that Marcos would be at the food bank that morning.

Marcos reportedly arrived in the backseat of a vehicle driven by another person and appeared to be wearing a disguise.

Marcos was arrested without incident and taken to the Yavapai County Detention Center in Camp Verde for the three warrants.

In addition, Marcos faces charges of two counts of forgery/offers a forged instrument and taking identity of another person, out of Yavapai County Superior Court.

Original story:

Yavapai County law enforcement agencies are asking for your help in locating fugitive Laura “Mariposa” Marcos.

In May 2025, Marcos was arrested by the Sedona Police Department and charged with three counts of forgery and driving on a suspended license. Marcos has failed to appear for her future court date and a statewide felony warrant has been issued for her arrest.

Marcos is 47 years old, 5 feet 3 inches tall and 122 pounds. Her whereabouts are unknown. Her last known address was on Grounds Drive in West Sedona.

A $1,000 cash reward is available for information leading to the arrest of Laura Marcos. To earn your reward, you must call Yavapai Silent Witness at (800) 932-3232 or submit a tip at yavapaisw.com.

Yavapai County Superior Court denies petition to prevent arrest:

Marcos filed suit against the Yavapai County Superior Court to prevent her arrest and extradition. On Aug. 1, she filed Marcos v. Yavapai County Superior Court, and a petition for writ of habeas corpus, a motion to enjoin Attorney Generals Riverside Hospital and New Jersey Registrar and a motion to dismiss or vacate the fugitive extradition hearings.

The motions and petitions were summarily by the judge on Oct 15.

Judge Michael Liburdi wrote Marcos “makes various contentions consistent with sovereign citizen ideology. Such contentions are considered frivolous, and “courts ordinarily reject similar contentions without extended argument. For decades, claims of the sovereign citizen ilk have been repeatedly dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction and as frivolous or meritless.”

Liburdi cites three cases in dismissing Marcos’ claims:

• United States v. Jagim, “holding defendant’s ‘sovereign citizen’ arguments were ‘completely without merit’ and ‘patently frivolous’”);'”
• United States v. Schneider, “describing ‘sovereign citizen’ arguments as having ‘no conceivable validity in American law'”
• Banks v. Florida, “collecting cases and stating that legal theories espoused by sovereign citizens have been consistently rejected as ‘utterly frivolous, patently ludicrous, and a waste of … the court’s time'”

Liburdi adds a quote from Harrison v. Gunnells: “As the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina succinctly put it, Petitioner ‘cannot claim to be a sovereign independent of governmental authority while simultaneously asking the judicial system to grant [her] recourse.'”

As such, Marcos is still wanted by Arizona law enforcement agencies for arrest and extradition to New Jersey.

Read the full ruling here:

Arizona Supreme Court refuses to hear Marcos’ case:

On Jan. 9, 2026, Marcos a petition for a writ of mandumus and prohibition peremptory writ to be treated as a petition for review, asking the Arizona Supreme Court to prevent her arrest and extradition.

Marcos also filed a petition pro se on Jan. 21, so that she could represent herself without an attorney and waive filing fees. The court granted that motion, but on March 6, summarily dismissed her petition for a writ of mandumus and prohibition peremptory writ and refused to hear her case.