Molestation Suspect Is Returned to California

A suspect in a child molestation case, arrested in Detroit last week after pictures of him were circulated by investigators, was flown back to Southern California on Sunday and booked on two counts of child molestation, authorities said.

Ron Ruskjer, 44, was accompanied on the flight by two investigators from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and was immediately taken to the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga. His bail was set at $2 million.

Sgt. Dennis Casey said Ruskjer is expected to be arraigned Tuesday in San Bernardino Municipal Court.

Ruskjer and his girlfriend, 33-year-old Evelyn Bacilio, were arrested Friday on suspicion of molesting a 4-year-old Newport Beach girl.

Ruskjer, a onetime faculty member at Loma Linda University’s school of public health, was taken into custody in Detroit as he got off a flight from Tokyo. Bacilio was arrested in Las Vegas, where she apparently fled after her photograph was broadcast on television. She was being held in Nevada, where an extradition hearing is pending.

Detectives began searching for the pair after someone gave police instant-camera photographs found near Normandie Avenue and First Street in Los Angeles. The photos depicted a man and a woman apparently performing sex acts on a young girl.

Detectives suspect the photographs were thrown into the street by thieves who had stolen Ruskjer’s car.

Police received a judge’s permission to release edited versions of three of the photographs to the press, hoping someone would recognize the child and the adults. Within hours, police received phone calls naming Ruskjer and Bacilio as the suspects.