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April 26, 2013

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Suspect in LA girl's abduction captured in Mexico

A fugitive charged with abducting and sexually assaulting a 10-year-old Los Angeles girl has returned to the US after being arrested in a Mexican village where he'd checked himself into a rehabilitation facility under a fake name.

Tobias Summers, 30, was brought to Los Angeles on Wednesday to face 37 felony charges, including numerous sexual assault counts, FBI Special Agent in Charge Tim Delaney told a press conference.

Summers was a fugitive for nearly a month. Police Chief Charlie Beck credited a US$25,000 FBI reward that was highly publicized south of the border for a phone tip late Tuesday that led to Summers' arrest on Wednesday morning.

"Anybody who thinks they can commit that kind of crime and remain free after doing so ... we'll hunt you, we'll find you, you cannot hide," Beck said.

Mexican authorities acted on the tip received by the FBI and tracked Summers to a drug and alcohol treatment facility in a tiny village on the coast between Tijuana and Ensenada.

Summers checked into the facility under a false name, but police identified him from a Superman logo tattooed on his chest. He was arrested without struggle, police said.

The victim's parents discovered the girl was missing from her bedroom in her Northridge home in the early morning hours of March 27. She was found about 12 hours later wandering near a Starbucks several miles away.

Authorities soon arrested Daniel Martinez, 29, as a suspected accomplice and later revealed that Summers had been spotted in a video recording as he crossed the border into Mexico at Tecate.

Authorities believe Summers broke into the girl's home planning to burglarize it but instead abducted her at knifepoint. They believe Martinez was waiting outside in a car the two used to flee with the girl.

Martinez soon abandoned the car and vanished, while Summers took the girl to a vacant home where he assaulted her.

FBI Special Agent Scott Garriola wrote in an affidavit that the girl was taken to several locations and raped.

While he was a fugitive, Summers was charged by Los Angeles County prosecutors with kidnapping, burglary and nearly three dozen counts of sexual assault.

Summers was described as a transient with a criminal record including convictions for burglary and grand theft. Detectives identified him as a suspect based on evidence at a crime scene, the victim's descriptions and others.



 

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