Santa Ana police took a 73-year-old man into custody Wednesday on multiple child molestation charges, nearly two decades after he allegedly assaulted his own eight-year-old granddaughter and fled the country before officers could reach him.
Andres Reyes was arrested near McFadden Avenue and Baker Street in Santa Ana on June 18 and booked into the Santa Ana Jail, KTLA reported. Police had carried a $1 million warrant for his arrest, and the department said Reyes "has remained in hiding for nearly 20 years."
The arrest closes one chapter of a case that began in 2008, when the victim's mother walked in on the alleged assault at a Santa Ana home, interrupted it, and immediately called police. But Reyes, authorities said, "quickly fled the country before officers could locate him." He vanished.
A tip brought him back to the scene
What makes the arrest especially striking is where detectives found their suspect. Santa Ana police said they received a tip that Reyes had returned to the same home where the alleged molestation took place in 2008. Officers moved on the information and took Reyes into custody nearby.
That a fugitive carrying a million-dollar warrant would allegedly circle back to the very address tied to the crime speaks to either brazenness or a belief that nearly two decades of silence had erased the risk. It hadn't.
The Santa Ana Police Department has not disclosed who provided the tip, when it came in, or how Reyes re-entered the United States. No details about which country or countries sheltered him during his years on the run have been released. The department said the case remains under investigation.
Charges and unanswered questions
Reyes faces multiple child molestation charges, though the specific penal code sections and charge counts have not been made public. The issuing court behind the $1 million warrant has also not been identified, nor has the exact date the warrant was filed.
It is not clear whether Reyes has been arraigned or entered a plea. No statement from a defense attorney has surfaced. The alleged victim, now an adult, and her mother have not spoken publicly, at least not in any available reporting.
Cases like this one raise hard questions about how a suspect facing charges this serious can remain beyond the reach of law enforcement for the better part of two decades. The fact that Reyes allegedly fled the country adds another layer: how he left, how he returned, and whether any agency flagged him along the way remain open.
It is a pattern law enforcement agencies across the country continue to confront. In New Mexico, a convicted child predator cut his ankle monitor and ran for the border before being captured, another case where a suspect facing serious charges tried to exploit distance and time to escape justice.
Law enforcement catching up
The Reyes arrest is a reminder that warrants do not expire when a suspect crosses a border. Santa Ana detectives held the case open and acted when the tip came in. That persistence matters, especially in cases involving the most vulnerable victims.
Across the country, agencies have shown a willingness to pursue fugitives regardless of how long they have been running. The FBI captured a Ten Most Wanted fugitive in Florida less than 24 hours after adding him to the list, proof that when resources and focus align, even the most determined runners get caught.
Large-scale operations have reinforced the same point. In Florida, the Polk County sheriff arrested 266 people in a single sting targeting prostitution, trafficking, and child predators. In Texas, four Fort Hood soldiers were arrested in a sting aimed at online child solicitation. The common thread is straightforward: law enforcement agencies that prioritize these cases get results.
The Reyes case also sits against a broader backdrop of public safety challenges in California. In Los Angeles, authorities have struggled to contain civil unrest that has required National Guard deployment and a citywide curfew. Federal prosecutors have now charged at least 14 people in connection with days-long riots, including a man accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail at LAPD officers, with 225 arrests made by local police in a single night. When lawlessness spreads, the quiet work of detectives chasing old warrants can get lost in the noise.
The victim waited 18 years
The granddaughter at the center of this case was eight years old when the alleged assault occurred. She is now in her mid-twenties. For nearly her entire adolescence and young adulthood, the man accused of molesting her walked free.
Her mother did what any parent should do: she interrupted the alleged crime and called the police immediately. The system then failed to hold the suspect. Reyes got out of the country before anyone could stop him, and he stayed gone for close to two decades.
Cold cases involving crimes against children carry a particular weight. The evidence may age, but the harm does not. The arrest of a suspect in a decade-old Tampa murder after new evidence surfaced showed that persistence and fresh leads can still produce accountability long after the crime. The same principle applies here.
Santa Ana police deserve credit for keeping the warrant active and moving quickly on the tip. But the broader question lingers: how does a man with a million-dollar warrant for child molestation disappear for nearly 20 years, and then allegedly walk right back to the scene?
What comes next
Reyes now sits in the Santa Ana Jail facing multiple charges. The investigation remains open, and police have released no further details. Whether additional charges follow, or whether the case produces answers about how Reyes evaded capture for so long, remains to be seen.
The facts as they stand are damning enough. An eight-year-old girl was allegedly assaulted by her own grandfather. Her mother caught it and called for help. The suspect ran. And the system took 18 years to bring him back.
Justice delayed is not justice denied, but it is a reminder that when the system lets a suspect slip through its fingers, the people who pay the price are the ones who can least afford it.
