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Freeman Caught

AP: "Freeman, 44,... was accused of raping his own daughter and posting
video of the attack on the Internet."

http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?idA919
"Investigators say they discovered that the abuse had started when Kylie
was ten years old, around the time that Freeman was divorcing his second
wife, Kylie's stepmother. Cops say Freeman would show Kylie pornography and
molest her, then threaten her not to tell anyone.  After Freeman's divorce
was finalized later that year, the abuse didn't stop.  In fact, police say
it got a lot worse.  - But in January of 2001, after Kylie's mother had a
talk with her about sexual abuse, Kylie refused all of her father's
advances.  Kylie told authorities that while the abuse stopped, the
coercion didn't. But she never spoke of the abuse for fear that her dad
would go to jail."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Most_Wanted_Arrest.html
Arrest made in Internet child abuse case
By SHANNON DININNY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

An undated photo provided by the U.S. Marshals Service shows Kenneth John
Freeman. Local and federal authorities on Wednesday, May 2, 2007, applauded
the arrest of Freeman, 44, who was accused of raping his own daughter and
posting video of the attack on the Internet. Chinese police apprehended
Freeman, 44, Tuesday night. (AP Photo/U.S. Marshals Service)

KENNEWICK, Wash. -- A 13-month global manhunt for a man accused of raping
his daughter and posting video of the attack on the Internet has ended with
his arrest in Hong Kong after a struggle that reportedly injured four
Chinese police officers.

In this southeastern Washington city, the daughter who accused Kenneth John
Freeman of molesting her simply smiled and brushed her hair from her face
Wednesday as authorities and family praised her for coming forward about
her ordeal and urged others to do the same.

The 17-year-old girl's decision to tell her story on national TV helped
connect the case to some of the Internet's most notorious molestation
videos.

"We want America to know that this is awful. This is an awful thing that
goes on in our society each and every day," Chris Peale, the girl's
stepfather, said at a news conference. "Kids are being molested, being
raped, and I can't tell you enough how important it is for those families
to support those children."

Freeman, a 44-year-old bodybuilder and computer expert, was on the
most-wanted lists of the U.S. Marshals Service and U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement.

Chinese police arrested him Tuesday night at a land checkpoint in Hong Kong
after he arrived there from mainland China, a Hong Kong police spokeswoman
said. Speaking on customary condition of anonymity, the spokeswoman added
that the arrested man resisted, slightly injuring four officers. She
refused to say whether he was injured during the arrest.

Freeman had been a volunteer reserve sheriff's deputy here in Benton County
in the 1980s.

He had been living in Seattle when he fled the United States last year,
months after his daughter told her mother he had assaulted her four years
earlier. Video files depicting the alleged abuse also were discovered on a
computer Freeman had given to his daughter for her use.

The girl appeared on the TV show "America's Most Wanted" to talk about the
case. Tips to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children after
the show aired helped the center identify the girl as the victim in a
series of child pornography videos, according to the Marshals Service.
Video of the abuse is among the most widely downloaded child pornography
videos in recent years, officials said.

Freeman has been charged in Benton County Superior Court with three counts
of rape of a child and jumping bail. He faces a maximum sentence of life in
prison if convicted.

"This is an embarrassment to law enforcement because of what he is accused
of," Benton County Sheriff Larry Taylor said. "We're just all happy to see
him in custody."

Authorities in Turkey, Greece and China tracked Freeman's whereabouts.
Investigators trailed him to Suzhou, a city in China, where he is believed
to have been working at the local office of a U.S.-based company.

The U.S. does not have an extradition agreement with the Chinese government
to return fugitives. However, such a treaty does exist between the U.S. and
Hong Kong. In the past several weeks, investigators discovered Freeman was
planning to travel to Hong Kong, officials said.

"Freeman will be returned for trial here, where penalties for child
exploitation are among the toughest in the world," said Homeland Security
Assistant Secretary Julie Myers, who oversees the immigration agency.

Freeman also was indicted in Spokane on federal charges of production and
transportation of child pornography. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Rice
in Spokane said Freeman still could face federal charges in Oregon.

After Freeman is extradited, federal and state authorities will decide
where he is tried first, Rice said.

========================================

U.S. MARSHALS AND ICE ANNOUNCE CAPTURE OF NATION’S
MOST WANTED ACCUSED CHILD PORNOGRAPHER/RAPIST
Former Law Enforcement Officer Was Cornered in Hong Kong

Washington D.C. - Former lawman Kenneth John Freeman, one of the world’s
most notorious accused child molesters, was arrested yesterday in Hong
Kong. Freeman, 44, was on the U.S. Marshals 15 MOST WANTED fugitive list
and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s ICE MOST WANTED
FUGITIVES listing. The arrest was based on a formal request by the U.S.
State Department. Freeman, a former Washington state resident, is accused
of molesting his own young daughter, then posting the videos online.

Internet scenes allegedly showing the girl being raped by her father became
one of the most widely downloaded child pornography videos in recent years.
Freeman is an avid competitive bodybuilder and computer expert, and
formerly worked as a reserve sheriff’s deputy in Benton County, Washington.
But since 2005, a series of charges against him by federal and local courts
has made him the subject of a worldwide manhunt.

Faced with those charges, Freeman fled the U.S. last year. According to the
U.S. Marshals Service, which now coordinates national efforts to capture
unregistered sex offenders and individuals charged with child abuse, it is
believed that Freeman was living in the city of Suzhou, People’s Republic
of China.

“This complex, international case was a challenge for the Marshals, ICE,
and our law enforcement partners,” said Director John F. Clark. “But
fugitives charged with crimes against children are our top priority.
Freeman now will be returned to the United States to face the justice he
deserves.”

“The arrest of this accused child molester proves the global reach of our
law enforcement partnership,” said Julie L. Myers, Assistant Secretary,
Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “Freeman will be
returned for trial here, where penalties for child exploitation are among
the toughest in the world.”

Law enforcement went public with their search as early last December, when
Freeman was featured on television’s America’s Most Wanted. His daughter,
now a teenager and an advocate against child sexual abuse, went on TV to
tell her story. Clues began to fall into place. The National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) had long known of a series of child
pornography videos showing the abuse of an unidentified girl. They were
convinced the child and her abuser were from the Pacific Northwest, and
when the Freeman case received national publicity, calls to NCMEC linked
the girl on America’s Most Wanted to the unidentified child in the video
series.

Sources at the U.S. Marshals said that Freeman’s presence in China was
uncovered by an investigative team made up of experts from the Marshals,
ICE, the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, and special agents from State
Department’s Diplomatic Security Service. It is believed that Freeman was
working for a U.S. based firm while in China. No extradition treaty exists
between the People’s Republic of China and the United States, but when the
Chinese were informed about Freeman they agreed to help. An extradition
treaty still exists between Hong Kong and the U.S.
In late April, information was developed by investigators that Freeman
intended to travel to Hong Kong. Upon his arrival yesterday, he was
arrested by law enforcement officials from the Chinese government. Freeman
now faces extradition to the United States to face federal charges, as well
as those in Washington State. This case is part of ICE’s Operation
Predator, an initiative to safeguard children from pedophiles,
international sex tourists, internet child pornographers and human
traffickers.

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