The fugitive heir to the Max Factor cosmetics empire, Andrew Luster, was living a modest life in a Mexican seaside resort for about a month before he was caught by a team led by legendary bounty hunter, Duane ”Dog” Chapman this week.
The heir had elected to stay in the same hotel he had used on past holidays.
Luster, who skipped bail of $1-million shortly before he was convicted in Ventura, California, in January of drugging and raping three women, was flown back to Los Angeles last night, a day after his arrest in the resort of Puerto Vallarta, Mexican immigration officials said. He had spent the past few weeks surfing, swimming and keeping a low profile.
In the US the FBI denied any embarrassment that Luster had been caught by a bounty hunter rather than its agents.
”We were on the trail and it would have been inevitable that he would have been arrested,” said one agent, Bob Mack, at a press conference in Ventura.
The bureau said the same American couple who had tipped off Chapman had also told it that Luster was in Puerta Vallarta. Agents were pursuing leads in Mexico when the fugitive was grabbed, it said.
Luster had dyed his hair and grown a goatee beard to change his appearance.
Chapman (46) had appealed for information about Luster on his website, dogthebountyhunter.com. He had promised to catch him weeks ago after being told that Luster, from Mussel Shoals, near Ventura, was a surfing fanatic bound to turn up in a surfing area.
Puerto Vallarta is so much a favourite haunt of American holidaymakers that it is known in the US lexicon simply as ”PV”.
Foreigners blend in easily at the resort and the 39-year-old great-grandson of Max Factor apparently felt safe in the modest 28-room Motel Los Angeles, flanked by the federal prosecution service and an army barracks. ”He seemed a very tranquil sort of man when I saw him,” said Irma Martinez, a receptionist at the motel. ”He didn’t say much.”
The manager of the £20-a-night motel, Oscar Lopez, told the Associated Press that Luster had been courteous, spoke good Spanish, and received a discount for being a return customer.
Chapman, his son and his brother, an actor and a cameraman, struck early on Wednesday morning when Luster popped out for a taco. They had been tracking him for days.
Witnesses told the police they had used an aerosol spray and handcuffs to subdue the rapist, bundled him into one of their two vans and drove off. The camera crew told police they had been working for America’s Most Wanted programme, a claim denied by the show.
Local police in Puerto Vallarta said the federal authorities had taken Luster to Mexico City, while the bounty hunters and their cohorts were in custody. It is not clear if kidnapping charges will be pressed.
”In our country it is not allowed to go around just abducting people like that,” said a police spokeswoman, Guadalupe Santos. Kidnapping is common in Mexico.
Chapman’s partner, Beth Smith, said from his Honolulu office that he had acted within the law.
”How could he be accused of kidnapping when he hadn’t taken him [Luster] anywhere?”she asked.
Chapman, who says ”Dog” stands for God spelled backwards, had hoped for a $150 000 bounty. But the FBI said yesterday he would be eligible for some of the $10 000 reward.
The US consul general said the US would not be lobbying for the release of the five Americans.
”If they have committed a crime in Mexico they they will have to face Mexican law,” a consul spokesman, Manuel Vanuelos, said. – Guardian Unlimited Â