A man who walked away from a Santa Ana halfway house—prompting a public warning by the Orange County District Attorney’s office—has been captured in Mexico, the office said in a statement March 27.
Ike Nicholas Souzer, 20, was arrested March 27 in Rosarito, Mexico by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Mexican officials after they were informed by undercover officials—during an extensive manhunt—he had traveled to Mexico, according to the statement.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said that Mr. Souzer had deliberately made a plan to flee the country after leaving the halfway house and that this was not the first time he had escaped from custody.
“He did not simply walk away and forget to check in with his probation officer. The second he was out of custody he set a plan in motion to flee to a foreign country in yet another attempt to escape the consequences of his actions,” Mr. Spitzer said in the statement.
Mr. Souzer had been released from custody March 20 after serving three months in county jail on one count of felony vandalism. He was also to have been on two years probation.
After his release, Mr. Souzer was transported to Project Kinship, a nonprofit that helps convicted criminals re-enter society after release.
According to the statement, Mr. Souzer left the halfway house and failed to inform his probation officer of his whereabouts, a violation of the terms of his probation.
Prosecutors had strongly objected to Mr. Souzer’s three-month sentence due to his past criminal records.
He fatally stabbed his mother when he was 13 years old. His criminal history also included attacking three correctional officers and manufacturing and possessing a handcrafted bladed weapon at the Orange County Jail, according to the statement.
“My prosecutors have spent years and years trying to do everything they can to keep this violent criminal behind bars, and at every turn, the very judges who are elected to protect public safety have done little to do so and instead have given him break after break after break,” Mr. Spitzer said.
Mr. Souzer was also given 160 days credit in 2021 after having felony charges reduced to misdemeanors for attacking the three officers in spite of prosecutors’ objections.
This isn’t the first time a warning to the public has been issued about Mr. Souzer. The Orange County District Attorney issued a warning in April 2022 when he went to a Santa Ana halfway house after being released from jail and then removed his electronic monitoring device, CBS News Los Angeles said.
He was located at a homeless encampment in Anaheim on Easter of that year and was also arrested then after a “countrywide manhunt,” police said in the statement.
In October 2023, he was convicted of making and possessing a handcrafted weapon in jail but was sentenced to one year in custody and a supervised release of two years instead of being given the three-year sentence prosecutors requested. He was released from custody three months later for good behavior and on work credits.
Mr. Souzer was then arrested by Orange police in January 2024 just days after his release for painting graffiti on a freeway underpass.
