NEW YORK
27 East
Apr 24, 2017
By Erin McKinley
A former priest who fled the country three years ago—after being accused of sexually abusing a 6-year-old Hampton Bays girl and giving her a sexually transmitted disease—was arrested on Saturday after being extradited to the United States from Guatemala, according to police.
Augusto Cortez, 53, was arrested by Southampton Town Police at John F. Kennedy Airport on April 22 after being located by Interpol officials in Guatemala and extradited to America with the assistance of the U.S. Marshal’s and the Suffolk County district attorney’s offices, authorities said. They noted that he fled the country shortly after the incident in June 2014, after he was questioned by Southampton Town Police once the victim’s parents filed a complaint. Authorities said he fled to South America after realizing he was the target of a police investigation, and has lived in several different countries to avoid arrest.
It was not immediately clear how authorities located Mr. Cortez.
Mr. Cortez was charged with one count each of first-degree sexual abuse of a child and first-degree criminal sexual act, both felonies, as well as endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, according to police.
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