Ike Souzer: Convict recaptured in Mexico sentenced after walking away from halfway house

SANTA ANA, Calif. - A man described as "an extremely dangerous and violent criminal" who was recaptured in Mexico after he walked away from a halfway house in Santa Ana has been sentenced to a maximum of three years for violating his probation, the Orange County District Attorney's Office said. 

Following a weeklong manhunt, Ike Nicholas Souzer, 21, was arrested in Rosarito, Mexico in March 2024 by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Officials say he walked away from a Santa Ana halfway house on March 20, 2024.

After he pleaded guilty to one count of felony vandalism and was sentenced to 90 days in county jail, Souzer was being transported to a transitional housing location in Santa Ana, but he left and did not return, triggering a massive manhunt.

Souzer has an extensive criminal history which includes stabbing his mother to death when he was 13-years-old, attacking three correctional officers while incarcerated, and manufacturing and possessing a shank while being housed at the Orange County Jail.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 

• Ike Souzer: Dangerous convict who'd escaped from Orange County found in Mexico
• Dangerous, violent convict escapes in Orange County, officials warn

In 2021, an Orange County judge, over the objection of prosecutors, reduced felony charges to misdemeanors and gave Souzer 160 days credit time served for attacking three correctional officers while he was incarcerated, the DA's office said in a statement.

In October 2023, prosecutors had objected to a three-year split sentence after Souzer was convicted of making and possessing a shank in jail last year. Instead of the three-year in custody sentence, prosecutors had argued that Souzer be sentenced to one year in custody and two years of supervised release. With 50% of good time/work time credit, he was released from custody just three months later, in January 2024. 

Days after his release in January 2024, Souzer was arrested by the Orange Police Department for spray-painting graffiti on a freeway underpass and giving officers a false name.

According to the DA's office, following his release from custody on March 20, 2024, personnel from Project Kinship, which has spent years advocating for Souzer’s release from custody, transported Souzer from the Orange County Jail to a transitional housing location in Santa Ana. Once he arrived at the house, officials say he left and never returned.

Souzer also failed to notify his probation officer of his whereabouts.

In April 2022, Souzer also escaped from Project Kinship’s Santa Ana office following his release on electronic monitoring from jail. 

"Ike Souzer is finally having to answer to the consequences of his own actions to turn every opportunity he was given to make a fresh start into another opportunity to continue his life of crime," said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer.

 "My prosecutors have spent years trying to keep this violent criminal behind bars only to be stopped by the very judges who, instead of protecting public safety, gave him break after break to turn his life around. Orange County Superior Court Judge Craig Robison put public safety first and is holding Ike Souzer fully accountable for his actions by sentencing him to the maximum allowed under the law," Spitizer added.