Fugitive Hiding in Costa Rica Arrested Upon Arrival in Florida
A former Melbourne Beach resident wanted in Brevard County in connection with a sexual assault on a 12-year-old Palm Bay boy is in custody following his arrest overnight Friday in Miami, authorities said.

Tom Noel Mastin left Florida nearly seven years ago after Brevard County authorities charged him with two counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child.

Mastin was arrested a week ago in Costa Rica, where he had apparently been running a beachfront business on the coastal town of Playa Garza.

Brevard County Sheriff's Sgt. David Fitch said Saturday morning that the U.S. State Department helped get Mastin back into the United States. Upon his arrival in Miami late Friday, he was arrested by Metro-Dade Police on charges stemming from Mastin's earlier arrest in Brevard County. Mastin was 63 at the time of the Palm Bay incident.

"He's been hiding out in Costa Rica. With assistant from the State Department, we were able to find out he was down there illegally and they helped deport him," Fitch said.

Mastin is being held on one count of lewd and lascivious acts on a child and one count attempted lewd and lascivious acts on a child, Fitch said.

Fitch also said Mastin had been arrested twice before, in 1984 and 1996, on similar charges.