FBI returns Philadelphia rape suspect from Mexico

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A man wanted for two violent rapes in Pennsylvania, including one near the headquarters of the Philadelphia Police Department, has been returned to our area after being held in Mexico.

Alberto Issac Navarrete Suarez, 37, was arrested by the FBI and Mexican authorities in April, 2012.

Suarez, aka Dario Lopez, had been held in Mexico City awaiting extradition.

He was returned to Philadelphia last night by members of FBI Philadelphia's Violent Crimes Fugitive Task Force and turned over to the Philadelphia Police Special Victims Unit.

Suarez is the suspect in the rape of a woman in Philadelphia as she waited for a bus in August, 2010.

Police say Suarez grabbed her by the throat and forced her into the Ridge Avenue Spur of the Broad Street subway, which is across the street from Philadelphia Police Headquarters. That's where the woman was sexually assaulted.

He was caught on surveillance video fleeing the scene without his pants.

The woman was nearly strangled during the attack, police said, but a passerby called police and scared off Suarez.

Police say they tracked Suarez to Pittsburgh, where he has relatives, down to West Virginia, then to Texas where he also has family.

They finally tracked him down in Mexico City, where he was arrested.

"While it seems like a long time and in our system in the United States that process would go a lot quicker, in Mexico the system and the judicial process works much, much slower," Edward Hanko of the FBI said.

Police say Suarez's alleged victim has had an emotional reaction to his capture and

Incarceration back here in Philadelphia.

"She had four years of trying to get some closure, some relief, now unfortunately the wounds are going to be reopened again, but there's even more closure because now she knows he's in custody and he will never harm anybody every again," Lt. Anthony McFadden of Philadelphia Police Department said.

Suarez was also identified as the suspect in the rape and kidnapping of a teenage girl in March, 2010.