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Tip leads police to a suspect in abduction, assault of girl, 10
Los Angeles • A fugitive charged with abducting and sexually assaulting a 10-year-old Los Angeles girl was returned to the U.S. Wednesday after being arrested in a Mexican village where he'd checked himself into a rehabilitation facility under a fake name, authorities said.
Tobias Summers, 30, was being brought to Los Angeles 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 $25,000 FBI reward that was highly publicized south of the border for a phone tip late Tuesday that led to Summers' arrest Wednesday morning.
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, according to Alfredo Arenas, international liaison for the Baja California state police.
The victim's parents discovered she 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.
Trial spectacle grows as seat sold for $200
Phoenix • Ticket scalping is nothing new in the sports and music world, but for a murder trial?
Dozens of people flock to court each day for a chance to score one of a handful of seats open to the public in Jodi Arias' ongoing murder trial in Arizona. The seats are provided on a first-come, first-serve basis, and nearly four months into the trial, the crowds are growing.
This week, one trial regular sold her spot to another person for $200 — and both got reprimands from the court on Tuesday. Desiree Lee, a regular attendee, said another woman had traveled from Michigan to see the trial but couldn't get a seat because she was too far back in line.
"She was asking a couple of people ahead of me if they wanted to sell their seats," Lee, who lives in the area, told ABC15 in Phoenix. "I said yes because I can come every day if I wanted to ... I seriously didn't know I was going to get in trouble.
"I'm a little embarrassed more than anything," Lee added.
She said she was told to return the money. The purchaser kept her seat for free.
Court officials confirmed the incident. The court's rules prohibit saving spots in line, and that's why the woman was asked to give the money back, although she doesn't face any charges.
Police investigate feud in ricin letters case
Oxford, Miss. • The investigation into poisoned letters mailed to President Barack Obama and others has shifted from an Elvis impersonator to his longtime foe, and authorities must now figure out if an online feud between the two men might have escalated into something more sinister.
Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, was released from a Mississippi jail Tuesday. Before Curtis left jail, authorities had already descended on the home of 41-year-old Everett Dutschke in Tupelo, a northeast Mississippi town best known as the birthplace of the King himself. On Wednesday, they searched the site of a Tupelo martial arts studio once operated by Dutschke, who hasn't been arrested or charged.
After being released from jail Tuesday, Curtis, described a bizarre, yearslong feud between the two, but Dutschke insisted he had nothing to do with the letters. They contained language identical to that found on Curtis' Facebook page and other websites, making him an early suspect.
Curtis said he's not sure exactly what led to the bad blood. It involves the men's time working together, a broken promise to help with a book by Curtis and an acrimonious exchange of emails, according to Curtis.
The two worked together at Curtis' brother's insurance office years ago, Curtis said.
For his part, Dutschke said he didn't even know Curtis that well.