Immigration authorities arrested an alleged American pedophile wanted for child molestation in Missouri, USA, officials said Tuesday.
James Austin Holiday, 65, was nabbed in Lingayen, Pangasinan by operatives from the bureau’s fugitive search unit (FSU), after the US Embassy in Manila informed the BI about the fugitive’s presence in the country.
“We will expel him for being an undesirable alien. His presence here poses a serious threat to our Filipino children, anyone of whom could be his next victim,” BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said.
BI intelligence officer and FSU chief Bobby Raquepo disclosed that Holiday hid in the country since Sept. 9 last year to evade prosecution for his crimes in the US.
Raquepo said the American fled to Manila barely a week after a judicial circuit court in Taney County, Missouri issued a warrant for his arrest on two counts of child molestation in the first degree.
Holiday is presently detained at the BI jail in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City pending the implementation of his deportation.
He will also be placed in the immigration blacklist to prevent him from re-entering the Philippines.
The US government has revoked Holiday’s passport, thus he is now undocumented and illegally staying alien in the country.