A Colorado man suspected of child sexual assault was Sunday morning after more than four years on the run and a five-day manhunt, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
Paul Sandoval, 62, was arrested near Lake Como Road on on a warrant from the Alamosa County Sheriff’s Office, federal officials said in a news release.
Sandoval is accused of tying up an 8-year-old girl and sexually assaulting her in a shed on his property on March 15, 2021,, according to the news release. He fled and disappeared into the mountains when the sheriff’s office issued an arrest warrant four days later.
Investigators believe he returned to the Alamosa area in late August after identifying him as a suspect in a vehicle and home break-in, and he was seen on surveillance cameras armed with a rifle.
More than 70 officers from local, state and federal law enforcement searched the Blanca Peak area before finding him, federal officials said.
at 14,345 feet, is about 20 miles northeast of Alamosa in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
