Haitian Police Capture Convicted US Child Molester
01 September 2003

Police in Haiti have captured an American convicted of child molestation after he violated parole and entered the Caribbean nation with false documents.

U.S. embassy officials say Mario Leyva was captured Saturday afternoon outside westcoast Saint Marc and was imprisoned in the national penitentiary in the capital, Port-Au-Prince. They say he is expected to be flown back to the United States on Tuesday.

A self-ordained evangelist minister, Leyva conducted tent revivals across the eastern United States and Haiti in the 1980s. Court documents say he convinced parents to allow their young sons to travel with him on tours, during which he sexually assaulted the boys and sold some of them off as prostitutes.

Leyva, a Cuban-American, was arrested in 1988 and pleaded guilty to molesting more than 100 boys. He also pleaded guilty to conspiracy and interstate transportation of minors for prostitution.

After serving 11 years of a 20 year sentence, he was released on parole in April of last year and was required to live under supervision until 2008. He fled to Haiti last month.