January 9, 2009
BANGKOK (AFP) - An American man wanted in the United States for alleged child sex abuse has been arrested in Bangkok after a global manhunt, Thai immigration police said Friday.
Darran Ray Castleberry, 41, from Texas, was seized on Wednesday following an arrest warrant issued by the international police agency Interpol.
Castleberry, who was also charged with overstaying his visa for Thailand by two years, would be repatriated, police said, to face six charges relating to alleged offences against minors between 1984 and 2001 in Texas.
"He is now waiting at the immigration detention centre for a US embassy official to take him into custody and take him back to the US for prosecution," said immigration police officer Colonel Manud Sriwongsa.
Police said Castleberry had already been ordered by a Thai court to pay a 3,000-baht (86-dollar) fine for overstaying his visa.
US authorities declared him a dangerous person as he had received weapons training during his time as a contractor in the 1991 Gulf War, Thai authorities said, citing the arrest warrant.
Castleberry has been living in Thailand with his Uzbek wife but his current occupation is not known, police added.
