Haitian cops capture US child molester
( 2003-09-01 11:44) (Agencies)
Haitian police captured an
American convicted of child molestation who violated parole and entered the
Caribbean nation with fraudulent documents, the U.S. Embassy said Sunday.
Mario "Tony" Leyva, 57, was captured Saturday afternoon outside St. Marc and
was incarcerated in the national penitentiary in the capital, U.S. Embassy
spokeswoman Judith Trunzo said.
A group of Haitians recognized Leyva from a photograph the U.S. Embassy
published in the local papers and showed on television. Residents tied him up
and then called the Haitian police.
He was expected to be flown back to the United States on Tuesday.
Leyva, a self-ordained evangelist minister, traveled the eastern United
States and Haiti in the l980s, conducting tent revivals.
He convinced parents to allow their young sons to travel with him on tours,
during which he sexually assaulted the boys and sold some of them off as
prostitutes, according to court documents. It is not known whether Leyva is
suspected of abusing children in Haiti.
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