The Province

U.S. PEDOPHILE HID IN VANCOUVER

Arizona man nabbed in Montreal on way back from Venezuela

- BY MIKE RAPTIS mraptis@theprovinc­e.com twitter.com/mike_raptis

One of America’s most-wanted fugitives — convicted pedophile Steven William Dyer — lived undetected in downtown Vancouver for eight years before his arrest at a Montreal airport Wednesday.

Now, the Vancouver Police Department, which only learned of Dyer’s existence after his arrest, has sexcrimes investigat­ors working with their Lower Mainland counterpar­ts and the Canadian Border Services Agency to determine whether Dyer, 44, molested children in B.C.

“[Investigat­ors] will be reviewing any unsolved file to determine if Dyer may fit the suspect profile,” the VPD’S Lindsey Houghton said Wednesday.

“[Dyer] was not known to us at all as of this morning,” he said.

A search warrant of his residence hasn’t been obtained by the VPD, but remains an option.

Dyer faces a minimum jail sentence of 169 years in a U.S. prison for 13 counts of child molestatio­n in Arizona after being convicted in absentia on April 16, 2002, on all counts. Arizona court documents show Dyer — originally from California — was found guilty of having a sexual relationsh­ip with a 12-yearold boy from 2000 to 2001.

According to the Contra Costa Times in California, Dyer was a Big Brother, a youth sports coach and earned between $100,000 and $200,000 a year working in a medical supply business.

The newspaper also reported Dyer had at least one other victim, and engaged in “sex parties” with the boys that involved alcohol and pornograph­y.

From 2002 onward, he obtained an Arizona ID card, New Mexico driver’s licence and U.S. passport with his brother, Ronald Dyer’s, informatio­n.

It is known that Dyer crossed into the U.S. from B.C. on two occasions in 2007 driving his father’s Lexus SUV.

Dyer had also been in contact with his family while a fugitive and is known to have frequented gettogethe­rs, where his parents and others advised the children and grandchild­ren of the family that Dyer was an internatio­nal spy and not to tell anyone they saw him in California.

He isn’t currently suspected in any criminal offence in Vancouver, said Houghton, but that could change pending the investigat­ion.

Dyer — who fraudulent­ly obtained Canadian ID in 2004 — was apprehende­d at Montreal’s Pierre Trudeau Airport.

CBSA investigat­ors learned in December 2011 that Dyer had the fraudulent ID and that he was in Venezuela at the time.

He was identified upon his return to Canada.

 ?? — HANDOUT PHOTO ?? STEVEN DYER
— HANDOUT PHOTO STEVEN DYER

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