Sex abuse suspect arrested

Chester Arthur Stiles, the man who authorities allege videotaped himself raping a Las Vegas toddler, was arrested in Henderson on Monday night.

Stiles, 37, had been the subject of a national manhunt since Sept. 28 when he was named as the man seen abusing a girl, about 3 years old, on a videotape that surfaced in Pahrump.

A routine traffic stop in the south part of the valley ended his time as a fugitive.

About 7 p.m., Henderson police officer Mike Dye had spotted a white Buick Century with no license plates on Green Valley Parkway at Sunset Road. Dye pulled the car over into the parking lot of a Subway restaurant on Green Valley. The driver handed Dye a California driver's license, but the picture on the license looked nothing like the man behind the steering wheel, Henderson police said.

Dye said the driver's hands were shaking. Stiles' face has been up on billboards and police bulletins for weeks, but the officer didn't immediately recognize Stiles, whose hair was much longer than in the publicized photos.

Henderson police officer Mike Gower arrived to back up Dye, and when the two officers questioned the driver about the expired license he had given them, the driver admitted he was the man wanted for sexually assaulting a child.

"He finally told us, 'Hey, I'm Chester Stiles. I'm the guy you're looking for.' And at that time he said, 'I'm sick of running,' " Dye said during a news conference a few hours after Stiles was apprehended.

Stiles didn't say anything more to the officers and was cooperative and calm, Dye said.

"Officer Gower and I both felt happy to get someone suspected of doing these crimes off the street," said Dye, a nine-year veteran with the Henderson police.

Stiles was traveling alone and wasn't armed, police said. Where he had been for the past couple of weeks remained unknown late Monday.

After arresting Stiles, Henderson police turned him over to the Las Vegas police because the videotape was made in Las Vegas. Las Vegas police Capt. Vincent Cannito said officers were going to search the car thoroughly.

Stiles was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on nine counts of lewdness with a minor, 10 counts of sexual assault of a minor, one count of use of a minor in the production of pornography, and one count of attempted sexual assault, according to jail records.

Cannito said Stiles probably will be kept isolated from other inmates at the county jail.

All the charges stem from the videotaping incident involving a girl who was not yet 3 at the time of the assault.

The girl, now 7, was found safe in Las Vegas on Sept. 28. An attorney representing the girl's mother said the girl is healthy and didn't have any memory of the incident.

Nye County District Attorney Bob Beckett said others had characterized Stiles as a "survivalist type" who claimed to have weapons, bragged about having Navy SEAL training and always carried a knife.

They said they didn't expect Stiles, a 6-foot 2-inch, 175-pound former animal trainer for Siegfried & Roy, to be taken into custody without a fight.

The case started on Sept. 8 after 26-year-old Darrin Tuck turned the videotape of the sexual assault over to Nye County sheriff's deputies. Tuck claimed to have found the tape in the desert months earlier. He told authorities he delayed turning the tape over to authorities because he was scared. He now faces charges of possession of child pornography.

Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo said on Monday night that he and the investigators close to the case were happy that Stiles had been caught. "It's putting closure to our aspect of this," he said.

But, he added, there are still a lot of unanswered questions, such as how Stiles gained access to the girl on the tape.

Stiles previously was wanted on state and federal warrants regarding allegations that he groped a 6-year-old girl in 2003.

An allegation that he had sexually assaulted a young girl in 2001 also was getting a new look from police in recent weeks.

Stiles previously had been arrested on charges including assault, battery, resisting a police officer, auto theft, leaving the scene of an accident and contempt of court, authorities said.

He was convicted in 1999 in Las Vegas of carrying a concealed weapon, and in 2001 of conspiracy to commit grand larceny. He pleaded no contest in Houston in 1993 to unlawful carrying of a weapon.

Contact reporter David Kihara at dkihara@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-4638.