I find it interesting that the individual below managed to enter Canada without difficulty, and even remain here for quite some time, and his identity was only discovered after a tip from the public. This does not speak well or our screening system.
Accused child molester removed from Canada
Fiancee in Montreal knew nothing of his past until arrest
Adrian Humphreys, National Post
An accused child molester from Tennessee who hid in Canada for 10 years -- the last five living with his Montreal fiancee who apparently knew nothing of his past -- has been returned to the United States where he faces up to 30 years in prison.
Russell Victor McCollum, 30, was first arrested in Nashville in 1999 after a young boy complained to his mother about his tutor who had befriended the family through their church, according to U. S. authorities.
Mr. McCollum would drive to the boy's home to collect him for tutoring. The boy was sexually assaulted several times inside the car while stopped in vacant parking lots in 1998, authorities allege. Mr. McCollum was arrested in his dorm room at the local university.
After being released on US$50,000 bail posted by his family, Mr. McCollum's father suggested he flee until the legal problem died down.
He came to Canada by bus in late 1999, crossing into Ontario using his real name at the border, he admitted to Canadian authorities, according to Immigration and Refugee Board records.
He lived first in Ottawa and then Montreal.
A year after he arrived in Canada he started using an alias: Jeremy Thomas.
In 2004, he met Stavroula Zobolas in a bar in Montreal, according to IRB records. The pair started dating and then living together. He eventually proposed to her, although she knew nothing of his past until after he was arrested last month, both of them told officials.
After two years of engagement, his fiancee was losing patience, pressuring him to commit to a wedding date, the IRB heard. He started wondering how he could legalize his status in Canada, he said.
Still, it took a tip from the public in February, after his case was broadcast on the popular television show America's Most Wanted, for police to learn he was in Canada.
His life as a fugitive ended when Canadian authorities came to his apartment on March 24. He first blockaded the door and tried to flee, police said.
When captured, he denied he was Russel McCollum until authorities compared his fingerprints with those of the fugitive.
"We have been on his trail for quite a long time," said Kristin Helm, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which had Mr. McCollum on its Top 10 Most Wanted list. "We knew he was out there somewhere and we had a couple of narrow misses. These are very serious charges."
The tipster is eligible for a US$10,000 reward.
Despite finally learning her fiance's real name and of the charges against him on such sordid allegations, Ms. Zobolas stood by him, offering $5,000 from her meagre savings as bail for him to be released from immigration detention.
She testified at his detention review hearing that she cannot even bring herself to use the name Russel McCollum, saying she knows him only as Jeremy Thomas.
She said the situation has left her in shock and that the charges do not match the man she knows. His release was denied by the IRB.
Yesterday, officers with the Canadian Border Services Agency escorted Mr. McCollum from his detention in Montreal to the Champlain border crossing, where he was turned over to U. S. authorities, said Robert Gervais, a spokesman for the CBSA.
Mr. McCollum faces four charges of aggravated sexual battery of a child, a charge of failure to appear in court and another of fleeing to avoid prosecution.
Under Tennessee law, the battery charge is one of the most serious sex crimes and is punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
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