The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has announced the arrest and return to the United States of Lewis Muscat, 60, from Sacramento, who battled US extradition proceedings related to paedophilia after fleeing to Malta.
Media-Newswire.com reported that the special agent in charge, Drew S. Parenti, had announced that Lewis Muscat had returned from Malta on the evening of 25 April.
A special agent of the FBI and a Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department detective travelled to Malta to accompany Muscat back to the United States, landing at San Francisco International Airport.
On 13 January 2006, the US District Court, Eastern District of California, issued an Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution (UFAP) arrest warrant against Muscat. The federal arrest warrant was obtained after investigations by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department indicated that Muscat had fled from Sacramento to Malta, from where he originated, Media-Newswire.com reported.
A complaint filed in the Superior Court of California, Sacramento County, charged Muscat with 18 counts of lewd acts on a child under 14 years of age, one count of possessing/controlling obscene matter depicting a person under 14 and one count of the distribution or exhibition of lewd material to a minor.
On 1 March 2006, Muscat was arrested in Malta on a provisional arrest warrant and was held in custody while he fought extradition to the United States. His extradition was approved despite attempts to have it repealed through various legal arguments, including one where he suggested that he was not mentally fit to stand trial.
After Muscat had exhausted all his legal options, on 9 April 2007, the Maltese authorities informed the FBI that Muscat could be extradited to California.
Muscat was brought back to Sacramento through the FBI’s Project Welcome Home programme, which provides funding to assist in the transportation of FBI fugitives back to the United States, where the repatriation by the host country is to occur through deportation and/or expulsion procedures.
On his return to Sacramento, Muscat was detained at Sacramento County Main Jail, Media-Newswire.com reported.