Costa Rica News, Daily News in Costa Rica by the Tico Times
February 27, 2008
 
   
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Interpol arrests 'America's
Most Wanted' suspect in Costa Rica

By Nick Wilkinson
Tico Times Staff | nwilkinson@ticotimes.net

Agents from Interpol and the Immigration Police arrested Lonnie Ted Crabtree, 41, a U.S. citizen wanted for attempted sexual abuse of a 15-year-old minor in Kentucky in 2002.

The arrest was made on Feb. 15 when Crabtree was traveling by bus from Puntarenas to San José, a press release states.

The specific charges against Crabtree, originally from Michigan, include importuning, attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and attempted compelling prostitution.

Crabtree was living in Cobano, in Puntarenas province, with his wife and five children, and he offered English and martial arts classes to minors, authorities said.

The Web site America's Most Wanted, an organization that started as a TV program and focuses on helping law enforcement authorities catch criminals, claimed an anonymous tip to their offices led to Crabtree's arrest.

The Web site said the 15-year old named “Brooke” that Crabtree thought he was soliciting for $130 per hour was actually a detective.

“Crabtree then sent ‘Brooke' a picture of himself, and asked if they could meet that day to engage in sexual intercourse,” the Web site states. “He even offered to pay her $130 an hour since she was a virgin. ‘Brooke' agreed to meet him at a local fast food restaurant. Much to his horror, when he arrived at the restaurant he found not a 15-year-old girl, but a group of detectives.”

Authorities plan to extradite Crabtree to the United States.

 
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