A Canadian fugitive accused of sexually assaulting a child more than three decades ago has been arrested in California.
Charles Peter Billone, 64, was taken into custody in Santa Cruz by ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations office in San Francisco, according to an agency statement.
Billone had been wanted since 1991 on allegations he sexually assaulted a child in Canada.
He was originally arrested that year on two counts of sexual assault and two counts of sexual interference, according to the CBC.
After being released on a promise to appear in court, Billone allegedly failed to show up and vanished.
For years, authorities struggled to track him down.
“Charles Billone no longer exists,” Hamilton Police Det. Paul Henderson told the outlet in 2014.
Henderson explained that investigators believed Billone had changed his identity and could no longer be found through traditional methods.
Police had previously suspected Billone was hiding somewhere in Canada.
They believed he had family connections in Manitoba, New Brunswick and Hamilton.
Instead, the fugitive was eventually located in Santa Cruz, California.
ICE officials said Billone also has prior convictions for stolen property, assault and drug offenses.
He is currently being held in ICE custody while authorities pursue his removal from the US.
Billone’s capture marks a dramatic end to a decades-long manhunt.
Back in 2014, Henderson said police were renewing efforts to publicize the case.
They hoped someone would recognize Billone or provide information that could lead investigators to him.
“We know he’s still out there somewhere,” Henderson said at the time.
In the viral moment that launched the original manhunt, Billone was arrested in 1991 on child sexual assault charges in Canada. He was released on a promise to appear in court. He never showed. For three decades, investigators chased dead ends across Canadian provinces. They suspected family ties in multiple regions. They feared he had assumed a new identity entirely. The case went cold.
Billone now faces removal proceedings as ICE coordinates with Canadian authorities.