A US citizen facing charges of molesting children at a California day care center has been arrested in Taiwan, police said yesterday.
Mark Lee Kaczmarczyk, 58, was arrested in Taipei on Sunday, a Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) official said, adding that police were preparing deportation proceedings against him.
Ma Chen-hua (馬振華), director of the bureau’s International Affairs Department, said Kaczmarczyk faces six charges related to the alleged molestation of infants between the ages of several months and three years at a day care center he operated with his wife in San Diego, California.
PHOTO: CNA
He fled a US$2 million bail in December 2008 while undergoing compulsory treatment for sex offenders, Ma said.
CIB agents apprehended Kaczmarczyk at an apartment on Dunhua S Road Sec 1 at 4pm on Sunday, Ma said, adding that an interview with Kaczmarczyk satisfied police that he had not committed any crime during his month-long stay in Taipei.
Kaczmarczyk is being held at the Alien Temporary Detention Center in Sansia Township (三峽), Taipei County.
CIB agents had learned that Kaczmarczyk often visited a balloon shop near the Zhongxiao SOGO store in Taipei, where he told clerks that he wanted to stay in Taiwan and open an English-language kindergarten in the city, Ma said.
A female CIB agent surnamed Yan pretended to be a friend of one of the balloon shop clerks in order to win his confidence and managed to discover where he was staying.
“He told us he likes Taiwan and would like to stay here to run a day care center,” Ma said.
He added that the police had immediately informed the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) of the arrest, after which the AIT dispatched officials to talk to Kaczmarczyk.
Police said AIT officials told Kaczmarczyk that his US passport had been canceled and that he would be repatriated very soon.
US authorities had informed the CIB on Feb. 6 through the AIT that a suspect on the US’ wanted list had entered the country, Ma said.
He said Kaczmarczyk had fled from a cognitive therapy clinic in December and left for Hong Kong from Los Angeles. He flew to Taiwan from Hong Kong on Jan. 8.
There was no comment on the case yesterday from the AIT, which was closed for the US Presidents Day holiday.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
STORM’S PATH: Kong-Rey could be the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in November since Gilda in 1967. Taitung-Green Island ferry services have been halted Tropical Storm Kong-rey is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon early today and could make landfall in Taitung County between late Thursday and early Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Kong-Rey was 1,030km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the nation’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 7kph. The tropical storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126 kph, CWA data showed. After landing in Taitung, the eye of the storm is forecast to move into the Taiwan Strait through central Taiwan on Friday morning, the agency said. With the storm moving
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
RSS