Frederick Fretz, 42, was apparently hitchhiking along Main Street near Interstate 75, authorities said. Police say Fretz picked up the boy at Dunnellon Elementary School in Dunnellon on Tuesday and headed north.

Emerson, Ga., police Sgt. Mike Powell said a person phoned police Sunday afternoon with a tip that a man who appeared to be Fretz was hitchhiking on the side of the road. Fretz was arrested without incident at about 2:30 p.m. and was being held in the Bartow County Jail in Georgia, Powell said.

Fretz's drive with the boy ended when his car stalled on an exit ramp off Interstate 75, just north of Atlanta.

The discovery of the abandoned car Friday triggered the search for the 11-year-old, which ended less than 12 hours later. Emerson police received a call that day when Fretz and the boy went to a store to buy a gallon of water and some candy, Powell said.

The boy was found about two miles from the car, and ran toward police as Fretz fled into the woods and eluded police, according to police reports.

Fretz was being held on two Florida warrants: one for violation of probation and another for failure to register as a sex offender, a felony, said Marion County Sheriff's Capt. Dennis Strow. There was also a federal warrant issued on a charge of kidnapping.

It will take at least a couple of days to bring Fretz back to Florida, Strow said. If he is brought back on the federal warrant, U.S. marshals would bring him back.

Strow said decisions about extradition and how to continue with additional charges were still being decided.

``That's all being discussed right now,'' he said.

Fretz changed his name from John Lanier in 1987. He was convicted of three sex offense charges involving an 11- year-old boy in 1991. When he moved to Arizona after his release from prison, he registered as a sex offender.

He never registered as a sex offender when he moved to Florida, which is a felony, and his sex offense was not disclosed when he was released from jail after serving two months for marijuana possession and domestic battery. If Fretz's past had been known, he could have been charged with failure to register as a sex offender.