Fugitive ex-cop convicted of child molestation to face new charges after capture in Mexico

Federal authorities have captured a former Glendale police officer and convicted sex offender who fled to Mexico after facing new charges of child molestation.

Arthur George Crabtree, 55, became a fugitive in April 2012 after authorities issued an arrest warrant alleging that he had contacted minors on the Web while on parole from a 2006 conviction.

The FBI said Crabtree was captured in Puerto Vallarta on Thursday. He was scheduled to return to Los Angeles late Thursday, accompanied by federal agents.

In February 2011, agents conducting a routine parole search of Crabtree’s Glendale residence found laptops with materials indicating that Crabtree was allegedly in contact with children under the age of 18, officials said.

An investigation led to an arrest warrant on one count of child molestation.

Three months later, Crabtree was charged by federal authorities with unlawfully fleeing justice after police were unable to find him.

In the earlier case, Crabtree, who was also a family law attorney, was arrested in January 2005 after he arranged a meeting with an undercover agent posing as a 13-year-old girl at the Greyhound bus station in downtown Los Angeles.

Testimony and evidence presented during the trial found that Crabtree had solicited an underage Santa Clarita girl and as well as undercover agents who posed as five different teenage girls.

He was convicted in July 2006 of one felony count of attempted lewd acts on a child, three felony counts of attempting to send harmful material over the Internet, four misdemeanor counts of attempted child molestation and one misdemeanor count of child molestation.

He was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison, according to the department of corrections.

Crabtree was released on probation in August 2009 as a registered sex offender.

Crabtree left the Glendale Police Department in February 2000 after more than 15 years on the force, officials said

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