On the Run Cult Leader Arrested for Sex Abuse

Sky News
February 28, 2015

http://news.sky.com/story/1436276/on-the-run-cult-leader-arrested-for-sex-abuse

Victor Arden Barnard, 53, had been on the run for several months

A self-proclaimed pastor accused of systematically assaulting two young girls at his religious fellowship in the US has been arrested – 11 months after he went on the run.

Victor Arden Barnard, who was one of America's most-wanted men, was detained by police in Brazil - following a raid on an idyllic apartment near a beach resort.

He faces 59 counts of sexual assault against the girls, who investigators believe were abused throughout their teenage years between 2000 and 2012.

They were among 10 young women who had moved away from their families to live at his camp in rural Minnesota - and both victims were apparently housed in isolation, enabling the abuse to take place.

Barnard had allegedly convinced their parents to make them relocate for religious reasons.

US investigators believe more girls - who were referred to as "maidens" - were abused by the 53-year-old, but police have been unable to convince other victims to come forward.

Cindi Currie, who had desperately tried to persuade one of her friends to leave the River Road Fellowship camp, said: "He has ruined lives - that man is devil incarnate.

"I'm just ready to cry. I'm so glad they found him. Not only will Victor Barnard go to jail, but every adult who know what was going on up there can start to pay, and maybe these girls can start to heal."

Barnard had legally entered Brazil in 2012, and had been living at the beach apartment for six months. He was charged in absentia by the US Marshals Service in April 2014, when a warrant for his arrest was issued.