'Extremely violent criminal' caught in Mexico after leaving a Calif. halfway house

March 30 (UPI) -- A 20-year-old man described by authorities as an "extremely dangerous and violent criminal" and multiple escapee has been arrested in Mexico after a manhunt, California officials say.

A manhunt that lasted a week ended when Ike Nicholas Souzer was arrested in Rosarito, Mexico, and returned to California's Orange County, District Attorney Todd Spritzer announced this week.

"My prosecutors have spent years and years trying to do everything they can to keep this criminal behind bars," Spritzer said, describing Souzer as "an extremely dangerous and violent criminal."

"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.

"This is not someone who deserves a break," he added. "He has turned every opportunity to turn over a new leaf into a new opportunity to break the law."

Souzer is in custody in the Orange County jail after he left a halfway house while on probation after he pleaded guilty to one count of felony vandalism on March 20.

Souzer was sentenced to 90 days in jail but earned credit for time served while awaiting the outcome of the case for which he pleaded guilty to the vandalism charge.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Larry Yellin placed Souzer on two years' probation, but he left the halfway house in Santa Ana to which he was assigned and fled to Mexico on March 20, NBC News reported.

Prosecutors opposed Souzer's 90-day sentence due to his criminal history, which includes stabbing and killing his mother when he was 13 and assaulting three correctional officers while in jail. He also manufactured and possessed a shank while he was housed at the Orange County Jail.

Agents with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection worked with Mexican law enforcement to catch Souzer Wednesday after being informed of his likely whereabouts by the Orange County District Attorney's office, according to KABC-TV.

Souzer has a history of escaping custody, starting with an escape from a juvenile hall in 2019 while he was on trial for killing his mother. A jury found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter, and he was found at an Anaheim McDonald's restaurant the day after he escaped from detention at the juvenile hall.

Souzer in 2022 escaped from a halfway house in Santa Ana but was found several days later living at an Anaheim homeless encampment.