ONE of two homeless men being hunted over the bashing and torture of an Australian tourist in San Diego has been arrested.

Damian Maple, 21, was apprehended by authorities who found him hiding under a bed in a house in the Idaho town of Coolin.

The other alleged attacker remains at large.

San Diego police allege Maple and Mr Frank Antonio Montoya, 46, attacked Adelaide electrician Robert Schneider during an argument on a San Diego beach early on February 27.

Mr Schneider, 26, was hit with a skateboard and thrown into a fire.

He suffered severe injuries and burns.

Mr Maple and Mr Montoya were last week charged with aggravated mayhem and torture, and the case was profiled on the television program America's Most Wanted.

A spokesman for the US Marshals, which arrested Mr Maple, said he could not say if a tip generated by the TV show led to the arrest of the fugitive, who was in the house with a woman and two young children.

He is to be extradited to California.

Mr Maple faces another count of torture stemming from an alleged February 9 attack on another man, along with a charge of assault with a deadly weapon with force likely to produce great bodily injury and battery.

San Diego District Attorney's Office spokesman Paul Levikow said each defendant faces up to life in prison if convicted of the attack on Mr Schneider.