Bureau of Immigration to deport US child molester

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Sunday said it would be deporting to the United States a convicted child molester who was hiding the past 10 months in the Philippines.

Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. said Ronald William Paul, 71, was arrested by BI fugitive search unit (FSU) agents on February 29 at his residence in Davao City.

Paul was wanted by Tennessee authorities for violating terms of his parole after his conviction for a sex crime.

David said he issued the mission order to arrest the American after the US embassy sought the BI’s help in locating the fugitive.

“He will be sent back to the United States as soon as we have obtained the clearances for his deportation, after which we will put him on our blacklist to prevent him from reentering our country,” the BI chief said in a statement.

BI acting intelligence chief Ma. Antonette Mangrobang said a general sessions court in Jacksonville County, Tennessee, issued an arrest warrant for Paul after he violated his parole.

Mangrobang said Paul failed to register as a sex offender, a condition for his provisional release from prison, and instead fled to the Philippines.

Armelo de Castro, BI-FSU head, said the fugitive had been in the country since May 6 last year.

De Castro said the American was an undocumented alien upon his arrest as the US Department of State had revoked his passport.

According to the BI, the authorities in Tennessee described Paul as “a violent sex offender,” having been convicted of committing lascivious acts on a child under 14 years of age.