Andrew Luster, the fugitive (news - Y! TV) rapist and cosmetics heir who skipped out on his trial in January, was apprehended in a Puerto Vallarta nightclub by bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman. Hours later, Mexican police tossed both men in jail, said a Chapman colleague.
"They got him," said Beth Smith, who works with the Honolulu-based bounty hunter. "Duane was taking him to a more secure location and the local cops grabbed him."
A spokesperson with the FBI (news - web sites)'s Los Angeles bureau confirmed that Luster was being held in Puerto Vallarta by Mexican authorities and said a legal attache was working toward an extradition.
Luster, great-grandson of cosmetics king Max Factor, skipped town after his prospects at trial grew bleak: One victim had already testified about the alleged abuses, and the jury was about to view a videotape labeled "Shauna GHBing." That label may be a reference to the date rape drug, gamma hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, that Luster was accused of using.
Luster fled with his dog, later found at his mother's, in his Toyota 4-Runner, which was found last week.
With Luster on the run, and Chapman on his trail, the trial continued. Luster, 39, was convicted in absentia of 86 counts, including multiple rape charges connected to assaults in 1996, 1997 and 2000. Police say he videotaped sexual romps with unconscious women after drugging them with the date rape drug GHB.
Fleeing his crumbling case certainly didn't help Luster's chances at an appeal. Last week, an appellate court struck down an appeal by his attorney, Roger Diamond, who has said in published reports that his client's return will nonetheless reinvigorate his appeal chances.
Diamond could take Luster's case to the California Supreme Court, where he could face an uphill battle.
"I think he's blown his chances at the appeal," said Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. "You can't have it both ways. You can't seek the benefits of an appeal but not subject yourself to the punishment."
A spokesperson with the U.S. State Department told Courttv.com that the FBI would likely broker Luster's extradition to the United States. The State Department would handle any charges facing bounty hunter Chapman, which could include kidnapping Luster.
While Ventura authorities employed conventional methods, Chapman used private investigator techniques, such as shadowing Luster's mother, Elizabeth Luster, who had her son's dog.
Chapman shortened his leash on Luster — he estimated that he was five days behind the fugitive's trail when he began — when he found Luster's ditched SUV in Santa Monica, Calif.
Boasting 6,000 successful captures, Chapman had his eye on Mexico as early as January. "All these rich guys have their hole in the wall," he said. "There's always a place where they think there's no cops."
Chapman said that, in Mexico, money talks. Resort employees and local residents often respond to one timeless tactic: Handing a potential tipster half of a torn hundred-dollar bill, and promising the other half when their tips pay off.
A Puerto Vallarta newspaper reporter, Angela Corelis, said that fugitive take-downs are commonplace in the resort town. "Once a week they pick someone up down here," said Corelis. "They get drunk and cry about [what they did] in bars."
The fee from the bail bond company for Luster's capture may have spurred the Honolulu-based Chapman in his chase, but the man hunter told Courttv.com in January that he wasn't in it for the money.
"I'm a bounty hunter, this is the number one fugitive in America, and I'm on his ***," Chapman said. "This one has become personal. If one of the victims comes up to me and says, 'Dog, thank you,' that's it, I'm paid."