LOS ANGELES, Calif. — The prime suspect in the kidnapping and sexual assault of a 10-year-old Northridge girl was arrested today in Mexico.
Tobias Dustin Summers was arrested by Mexican police working with the Los Angeles Police Department and FBI, according to Lourdes Arocho of the FBI.
The circumstances and exact location of his arrest were not immediately available.
KNX Newsradio reported that Summers was found at a Mexican drug rehabilitation center after tips were received by FBI agents in San Diego.
Summers was charged earlier this month with 37 felonies stemming from the March 27 abduction of the girl from her bedroom in the 8000 block of Oakdale Avenue. The girl’s mother discovered the girl missing around 3 a.m. when she went to check on her after hearing a commotion in the house.
Police said the girl was taken to various locations in two vehicles and was sexually assaulted before being dropped off near a Woodland Hills-area hospital that afternoon. She was comforted by a good Samaritan at a nearby coffee shop until police could be summoned.
The girl was barefoot and appeared to be wearing different clothes than those she was reported to be wearing when she disappeared.
Police said Summers has a lengthy rap sheet dating back to 2002, and was released from prison or jail last July, as a result of the state’s effort to relieve prison overcrowding. He has served prison terms for robbery, kidnapping, explosives possession and petty theft, police said.
Although he is not known to be a registered sex offender, Summers did have an arrest for battery in 2009 that involved child annoyance, Smith said.
On March 31, police arrested Summers’ alleged accomplice, 29-year-old Daniel Martinez, who has been charged with one count each of kidnapping and first-degree burglary.
Summers, however, remained at large. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck announced April 5 that Summers had been seen on surveillance tape crossing a foot bridge into Mexico.
Summers has been charged with one count each of kidnapping a victim under 14, kidnapping to commit another crime and first-degree burglary with a person present, along with 34 sex-related counts. He faces multiple life prison terms if convicted, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
The criminal complaint alleges that Summers has prior convictions for grand theft and petty theft dating back to December 2003. The complaint puts Summers’ age at 32, although police said he was 30.
It was not immediately clear when Summers would be returned to Los Angeles.
