Los Angeles

Man Arrested in Beating of Girlfriend After Years on Run

Police say a California man wanted for allegedly beating and choking his girlfriend and her children has been arrested in Mexico after 14 years as a fugitive.

The Riverside Police Department says Leopoldo Martinez Garcia was arrested by Mexican federal police earlier this month and turned over to U.S. authorities. He was in custody in Texas Thursday awaiting extradition to California, and it couldn't be determined if he had an attorney.

Riverside police say he faces attempted murder charges. Authorities say a 24-year-old woman and her children — ages 1 and 4 — were brutally beaten during a domestic dispute in August 2004.

She was eventually able to call police but by then her attacker had fled. U.S. and Mexican authorities tracked him to the Mexican state of Michoacan.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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