Fugitive Rapist Returns to a Waiting Prison Cell

Fugitive rapist Andrew Luster was deported to Los Angeles from Mexico on Thursday and taken directly to state prison to begin serving a 124-year sentence for drugging and raping three women.

The convicted felon was tracked down by bounty hunters on a street in the Mexican resort city of Puerto Vallarta early Wednesday morning, more than five months after fleeing during a recess in his Ventura County trial.

Luster, 39, was flown from Puerto Vallarta to Los Angeles, landing shortly before 1 p.m. He arrived in handcuffs and, with an expressionless gaze on his face, was escorted by FBI and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials through a rear airport entrance to a waiting car, which took him to Wasco State Prison in Kern County.

The great-grandson of cosmetics magnate Max Factor, Luster had been staying at a motel next door to the Puerto Vallarta district attorney’s office before being nabbed in a street scuffle with bounty hunters. The fight attracted the attention of local police who tossed all participants in jail.

The bounty hunter, Duane Lee “Dog” Chapman, his son, brother, agent and a cameraman remain in jail, and Mexican authorities, who do not cooperate with bounty hunters, are considering whether to charge them with kidnapping.

Luster’s capture brought cheers from the family of one of his victims -- a woman who was 17 years old when Luster raped her. The victim’s mother, reached on vacation in Yosemite National Park on Thursday, said they were “absolutely ecstatic.” She got the call from her daughter, identified in court as Shawna Doe, on Wednesday.

“All I heard was ‘Mom! Mom! They got him!’ ” the mother said. “I have never heard her so happy. She was in a state of euphoria.”

Luster, who had posted $1 million bail and was under house arrest during his trial, cut off an electronic surveillance bracelet and fled in January. His trial continued and three weeks later a jury convicted him on 86 criminal counts for drugging and raping three women. He gave his victims a potent anesthetic and videotaped the sexual assaults, which were viewed in court.

Oscar Lopez, assistant manager of the Motel los Angeles where Luster spent his final three days of freedom, said Thursday that he entered Luster’s room after his arrest Wednesday and saw a video camera, a still camera, two surfboards, a fishing rod and a garment bag.

Federal authorities said there was no indication that Luster had committed any crimes in Mexico.

Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Eric Nishimoto would not comment on whether authorities believe Luster was aided in his apparently well-planned and well-financed escape. The investigation into Luster’s disappearance continues, he said.

His mother, Liz Luster, was reached by telephone while on a trip to Northern California and said, “I have not been contacted by any authorities. Why would I be? What do I have to do with anything? No one from the authorities has called me, only media, media and more media.”

She had expressed doubt the day before that her son had been caught, but said that, in any case, she had no plans to cut short her trip and return to her home in Malibu.

Meanwhile, the fate of bounty hunter Chapman and the men who helped him grab Luster in a struggle witnessed by passersby and local merchants remains uncertain. Chapman, 50; his brother, Tim Chapman, 38; his son, Leland Chapman, 25; his agent, Boris Krutonog, 41; and cameraman Jeff Sells, 35, remain in custody.

Speaking through the bars of the tiny jail cell where all five men were being held, Duane Chapman said Thursday that they had not slept and had been able to make only a few phone calls to their families in the United States.

“Please get us out,” yelled Chapman, who refused to answer questions about Luster. “Tell our wives we love them.”

Beth Smith, Chapman’s longtime partner, said she is upset that U.S. authorities seem unwilling to help. On Wednesday, Ralph Boelter, a special agent in the FBI’s Los Angeles office, called Chapman’s actions “beyond what I can condone.” And Ventura County Sheriff Bob Brooks said Chapman’s legal troubles were his own making.

“He took a very dangerous action in a foreign country and he is paying the price for it,” Brooks said.

“These feds have abandoned him,” said Smith, who broke into sobs during a brief phone interview Thursday. “I’m just trying to get them out of jail.”

Smith said that Chapman was working off a tip from a group of “kids” who had rented a villa near Puerto Vallarta and partied with a man who called himself David Carrera. The Spanish phrase a la carrera means “on the run.”

They suspected that he was Luster and informed the villa’s owner who, in turn, contacted the bounty hunter, Smith said. She said that, after several attempts to meet up with Luster and after trailing him for days, Chapman and his helpers finally caught him alone at a taco stand early Wednesday morning and made their move.

FBI and other law enforcement officials said they had been working diligently to find Luster, with as many as six investigators looking into tips.

Laura Bosley, an FBI spokeswoman, said agents tracking the Luster case got the same tip about the fugitive’s whereabouts last week from a Seattle couple vacationing in Puerto Vallarta.

“We were very close to capturing Mr. Luster,” Bosley said, adding that the FBI’s Guadalajara-based agent was on his way to the area when the news broke about Luster’s arrest. “We believe we would have taken him into custody were it not for Mr. Chapman, and he would not have had the problems he is having.”

She said the FBI has no authority to help Chapman.

“If he had an eye on Luster, he could have contacted us,” Bosley said. “That’s what we would have preferred happen.”

But the mother of victim Shawna Doe said Thursday that her family was grateful to the bounty hunter.

“I don’t care what anyone says,” she said. “I’ve had so many family and friends calling me, saying, ‘What do we need to do to get [Chapman] out of jail?’ ”

Meanwhile, Roger Diamond, Luster’s attorney, said he will petition the California Supreme Court today to allow his appeal to go forward. An appellate court dismissed a request for an appeal last week, saying Luster had forfeited that right when he fled.

How Luster spent his months on the lam remains unclear. Many who knew him speculated that his love of surfing meant that he would not stray far from good waves.

Smith, who lives with Chapman in Hawaii where the couple operate Da Kine Bail Bonds, said they had spent tens of thousands of dollars tracking down leads since deciding to hunt for Luster three months ago. In addition to tips that the Spanish-speaking Luster would be found in Mexico or perhaps Central or South America, Smith said they had also looked into the possibility that he was in Thailand.

Luster was captured as he ordered tacos at a street stand in the early morning hours Wednesday. He had been staying at the Motel los Angeles for $30 a night, a $5 discount off the normal rate because he had been a guest there last year, said Lopez, the assistant manager.

Tuesday night, Lopez said, a man he recognized from a photo as Leland Chapman arrived alone at the motel in a taxi.

“He began by looking at all the cars in the parking lot,” said Lopez, whose motel is surrounded by a high stone wall. “I said, ‘You have to pay for a room if you want to walk around here.’ ”

Lopez put Chapman in Room 24. Luster was in Room 20. That night, Chapman had several visitors, Lopez said.

“I started thinking something was up, that someone was following [Luster] but what could I do?” said Lopez, who knew Luster as David Carrera.

Times staff writers Megan Garvey, Allison Hoffman, Greg Krikorian, Catherine Saillant and Joy Woodson contributed to this report. Gorman and Mena reported from Puerto Vallarta. Ragland and Saillant reported from Ventura.