A 54-year-old former police officer and attorney from Glendale suspected of failing to appear in court to answer to charges of child molestation and a parole violation was arrested in Mexico Thursday.
Arthur George Crabtree was arrested in Puerto Vallarta by Mexican authorities and deported to the U.S. following his arrest and then turned over to the Glendale Police Department, according to James Struyk, acting assistant director in charge of the FBI‘s Los Angeles field office.
The American citizen had been using false identification documents in violation of Mexican law and was deported immediately, according to the FBI.
Agents had received a tip earlier this week that Crabtree, whose case had been publicized in the Los Angeles area, had been living at a home in Puerto Vallarta.
Crabtree’s laptop was seized during a parole search of his home in 2011 and found to contain materials indicating that (he) was allegedly in contact with children under the age of 18, authorities say. A warrant was issued out of Los Angeles County Superior Court in early April 2012 charging him with one count of child molestation.
The FBI’s Fugitive Task Force was asked to apprehend Crabtree once it had been determined that he fled the state and a federal arrest warrant was issued by U.S. District Court’s Central District of California on July 25, 2012, after he was federally charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
Crabtree was also wanted by the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for a parole violation, according to the FBI.
It was not immediately clear when he was next due to appear in court.
–City News Service