1 of FBI’s ‘most wanted’ nabbed

April 23rd, 2013

Peter Nolan

One of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted fugitives — Eric Justin Toth, a former D.C. teacher accused of producing and possessing child pornography — was detained by police in Nicaragua, sources said.

Toth was found over the weekend. He had rented a room in a small town near Managua, was using an assumed name and had a fake passport.

Nicaraguan National Police Chief Aminta Granera said he would be deported immediately because he was in the country illegally, the Associated Press reported.

Toth taught third grade at Beauvoir Elementary School on the grounds of the Washington National Cathedral.

On June 12, 2008, Beauvoir sent a letter to parents saying that a teacher was found in possession of a school-owned camera with inappropriate pictures of a boy. Sources said that pictures of at least three other boys being touched in inappropriate ways were on a thumb drive.

At least one of the boys photographed is believed to be a Beauvoir student. According to police, Toth secretly recorded video of a young boy in a school bathroom.

Toth was terminated and escorted off campus and has not been seen in the D.C. area since that day. When he went on the run, he changed his name and his look, authorities said.

Beauvoir released the following statement:

“We were informed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office (Department of Justice) that former teacher Eric Toth has been arrested.

We commend the work of the Office of the U.S. Attorney and the FBI for their ongoing efforts to apprehend Mr. Toth. They have been tenacious and resolute in their quest to bring this case to justice.”

FBI agents tracked Toth to his parents’ home in Madison, Wis. Then in August 2008, his car was found in a parking garage at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

A note in the car indicated that Toth was contemplating suicide and that his body would be found in a nearby lake, sources said. But investigators believed that was a ruse, police said, and no body was found.

Toth was indicted on child pornography charges in December 2008.

In June 2009, agents received a tip Toth was living and working at a homeless shelter in Phoenix. But when they got there, he was gone.

He is also believed to have traveled to Virginia, Illinois and Indiana.

Toth first entered Nicaragua on Oct. 24 and left Jan. 27, Granera said. He returned on Feb. 12 and that’s when Nicaraguan police began keeping a close watch, the AP reported.

Granera said he resisted arrest.

Toth has been described as a computer “expert” and is believed to have an above-average understanding of the Internet and Internet security. According to the FBI, he has the ability to blend in to various socio-economic classes.

Toth worked at Beauvoir for three years. He was known to tutor and babysit Beauvoir students, sources said. He also allegedly spent nights in the homes of young boys.

During their search, the FBI warned Toth could try to get a job as a tutor both for money and for new victims.

The FBI said it put Toth on the Ten Most Wanted list in April 2012 because there were no reliable clues as to his whereabouts and because his Internet skills and alleged penchant for grooming children made him especially dangerous.

Toth is originally from Hammond, Ind., and is a graduate of Purdue University.

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