FUGITIVE ROBBERY-RAPE SUSPECT RETURNED TO A.V. FOR TRIAL.

Byline: Bhavna Mistry Daily News Staff Writer

The second suspect wanted in connection with a brutal Jan. 19 home invasion robbery has been returned to the Antelope Valley for trial after his capture in a central California town, officials said Tuesday.

Arturo Martinez, 25, of Lancaster was arrested Friday in Hanford, a small town 20 miles south of Fresno, and was transported to the Antelope Valley station, where he is being held in lieu of $960,000 bail. Martinez is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday.

Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Jerry Wolf said local detectives notified Hanford police that Martinez may be hiding out in the area once they learned that he had relatives there.

Hanford police believe Martinez may have lived in the area with his sister for at least the last two weeks.

``We had a string of robberies and a similar home invasion robbery around the time he lived here,'' said Hanford Police Sgt. Darrell Smith. ``We found it suspicious and considered him a suspect.''

Martinez and Richard Nieto, 28, of Palmdale both are charged with multiple counts or robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and sexual assault. They face up to life in prison if convicted.

In the Jan. 19 incident, two armed men - one wearing a ski mask - entered an apartment in the 2000 block of Westwood Court about 1:30 or 1:45 a.m., apparently after following a man and two women from a Lancaster night club.

Entering through an unlocked door, the intruders held the three - plus two other women and three men already at the apartment - for more than two hours, robbing the victims of jewelry and money, tying up the four men, assaulting one male resident and systematically raping the four women.

Once the intruders left, the victims were able to free themselves and called 911.