The local police department helped in the successful deportation from the US of a former local resident wanted in connection with the rape of a five-year-old girl with cerebral palsy, alleged to have taken place in an Upland Street home in 1974.
After a decades-long search Raymond Douglas MacLeod was found in California and returned to Canada on Tuesday, March 24. MacLeod will make his first court appearance in Prince George provincial court on Friday, March 27.
At the time of the crime MacLeod was 32 years old. The alleged offences took place at a residence on Upland Street. On the original charge MacLeod was found not guilty but Crown Counsel won an appeal and a new trial was ordered. MacLeod was arrested in Burlington, Ontario in June of 1979 on unrelated charges and was served with court documents ordering him to appear in court but he failed to do so. There was a nationwide arrest warrant issued in 1980 but he was never found.
Local RCMP contacted Interpol to ask for help to locate MacLeod.
Later it was determined that MacLeod resided in California. The serious crime investigators from the Prince George RCMP along with US authorities were able to confirm a man arrested in California was the same man wanted by local police.
Now 72 years old, MacLeod will face charges of rape, indecent assault on a female, assault causing bodily harm. These charges were offences in the Criminal Code of Canada in September 1974. An additional charge of Obstruction of Justice has been approved by Crown Counsel.
The 40 year investigation will bring the person believed to be responsible before the courts and bring closure to the victim and her family, said Cpl. Craig Douglass, communications NCO / Media Liaison Officer for the Prince George RCMP in a news release.
