Managua: Police in Nicaragua on Monday announced the arrest of Eric Justin Toth, an American on the FBI`s most wanted list, who is sought on child pornography charges.
Toth, a former schoolteacher and camp counselor was taken into custody in the northern city of Esteli on Saturday, police said. He had been living under an assumed identity the city 148 kilometers (92 miles) north of Managua since October, said national police chief Aminta Granera.
The suspect was transferred to Managua where he was presented to the press ahead of his swift extradition from this Central American nation.
Granera said Toth resisted arrest, though she did not detail how, before he was subdued and then transferred to Managua.
Toth, tall, pale, and thin, was handcuffed but still appeared relaxed as reporters jostled to get the US fugitive`s picture.
The police chief said that the suspect, who was wearing light-colored trousers and a short-sleeved shirt, would be deported immediately, noting that he was in Nicaragua illegally.
Toth was rushed out minutes later, to Managua International Airport, under tight police guard. He has been on the FBI Most Wanted list since April 2012, when he replaced Osama bin Laden on the list, Granera noted.
He arrived in Nicaragua for the first time on October 24, 2012, left the country January 27 of this year and then re-entered the country February 12 with false identification belonging to another US national, Granera said.
Granera said he had "falsified a passport, driver`s license and three credit cards on US banks" under the identity he was using in Esteli where he was living in a home in the Panama Soberana neighborhood.
Nicaraguan police confirmed that he was in the country in February, and then monitored his movements back and forth between Managua and several towns in Esteli department.
The FBI said on its website that Toth was a computer "expert ... wanted for allegedly possessing child pornography in Washington, DC."
"It is alleged that in June of 2008, pornographic images were found on a school camera that had been in Toth`s possession. Toth also allegedly produced child pornography in Maryland," the US federal police agency added.
A $100,000 FBI reward had been posted for information leading to his arrest.
AFP
