Suspect in Northridge kidnapping has extensive criminal history

The suspect in the abduction and sexual assault of a 10-year-old Northridge girl this week has a criminal history dating back to 2002 and includes arrests for kidnapping, robbery, explosives possession and petty theft, Los Angeles police said.

Tobias Dustin Summers was released from custody in July 2012 because of a sweeping new law that transfers authority over some felons from state prisons to county jails and, on their release, from state parole to county probation departments. The law, also known as public safety realignment, was intended to reduce overcrowding in state prisons.

Summers was most recently arrested Jan. 13 on a probation violation and released Jan. 19, LAPD Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese said at a Saturday news conference. He did not elaborate on the violation.

Summers is not a registered sex offender, but police said he was arrested in 2009 in a case that involved “child annoyance.�

Police described Summers as a transient who frequents North Hollywood and other areas of the San Fernando Valley.

It was unknown why the 10-year-old victim was targeted. “We have no information that the family knew this individual, or that this individual knew any members of the family,� Albanese said.

The girl told investigators that two men were involved in the incident and that she was taken to multiple locations in different vehicles, according to law enforcement sources. But police said that Summers was the primary focus of their investigation.

“We’re trying to go through this slowly and methodically because we don’t want to overwhelm her. She’s a 10-year-old girl,� LAPD Capt. William P. Hayes said after the news conference.

On Wednesday, the girl’s mother told authorities she last saw her daughter in her room about 1 a.m. About 3:40 a.m., police said, the mother heard a noise. When she went to check on her daughter, the girl was gone.

Police conducted a house-by-house search of the neighborhood, and the FBI also joined the investigation. Shortly before 3 p.m., a man spotted the girl in a parking lot about six miles from her home and pointed her in the direction of nearby police.

She was found with cuts and bruises, some to her face.

Police said they believe the girl was dropped off at a Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Woodland Hills. She then walked toward a Starbucks.

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