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FBI and Las Vegas police hunt alleged child rapist

US investigators interviewed people with connections to a fugitive accused of videotaping himself raping a little girl, and said they hoped to find a suspect they described as a violent survivalist who always carried a weapon.

The FBI and Las Vegas police pressed a nationwide manhunt for Chester "Chet" Arthur Stiles, 37, who authorities said molested a three-year-old girl in a mysterious video that was recorded four years ago and surfaced last month.

"He's a survivalist type who isn't bothered by living without electricity or water, and always carries a fighting-type knife," Nye County District Attorney Bob Beckett said.

Hundreds of "very fruitful" leads poured in on Monday from across the country, said police Captain Vincent Cannito, head of the department's youth and family crimes unit.

"He does have a very violent past," Cannito said, "and he has a history of narcotics usage, so we do consider him to be a very dangerous individual."

Las Vegas police said Stiles had a string of arrests dating to 1999 on several charges, including assault, battery, resisting a police officer, auto theft, leaving the scene of an accident and contempt of court.

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

The video came to light last month after a man claimed to have found the tape in the desert. But authorities said the man, Darrin Tuck, 26, had it for as long as five months and showed it to others before turning it in.

Authorities last week took the unusual step of releasing images from the tape and identifying Stiles in an attempt to establish the identity of the victim.

With help from the media and the public, sheriff's deputies found the girl, now seven, safe in Las Vegas, where they said the video was made.

Authorities also were seeking Stiles on an unrelated warrant issued last year charging him with fleeing to avoid prosecution on allegations he groped a six-year-old girl in 2003.
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