A Kentucky man charged with sodomy of a child under 12 is back in the USA to face justice after being deported from the Philippines.
State Police said today (Thursday, May 2) that Richard Baker, aged 39, who had been living in Marikina, Manila, is also charged with “promoting a minor in a sex performance”.
The allegations against Baker were made in March 2017 and he was indicted in May 2018.
US Marshals and Interpol helped troopers track down Baker to the Philippines in February of this year.
He was returned to Kentucky to face justice on Tuesday. According to the WKYD news website, he is now booked in to the Christian County Detention Center.
Second offender arrested
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) has arrested in an American in Talisay City, Cebu, who is also wanted in the US for sexually abusing a child.
BI chief Jaime Morente today identified the arrested suspect as Charles Roy Atkinson, 33.
Mr Morente said he was arrested last Saturday, April 27.
The US Embassy said Atkinson was the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the Court of Harrison County, Mississipi, in January 2013.
Atkinson was charged with the crime of exploitation of a child, which, under Mississippi law, carries a penalty of up to 40 years imprisonment and a fine of between $50,000 and $500,000.
Mr Morente said Atkinson was scheduled for deportation following the cancellation of his passport.
“His presence here poses a risk to children, anyone of whom could be his next victim,” he said in a statement.
“We were informed by American authorities that his passport has already been cancelled.”
The BI’s Fugitive Search Unit chief Bobby Raquepo said Atkinson had been hiding in the country since his arrival on January 22, 2013, a day before the court filed the case against him.
“He must have received information about it, so he fled to the Philippines to evade his arrest,” he said.