A Vancouver man accused of fleeing to Cambodia to avoid prosecution of child rape charges in Clark County appeared Wednesday in Clark County Superior Court.
Ian Andrew Heller, 25, was apprehended by local police in Preah Sihanouk province for having an “illegal expired passport,” according to The Cambodia Daily. He was then sent to the department of immigration in Phnom Penh. The passport, according to The Cambodia Daily, was issued in Nebraska, where Heller was born.
Clark County sheriff’s deputies picked him up Sept. 30 in Los Angeles, where he was held on a bench warrant out of Clark County.
Heller claimed that he has an Irish passport and has been living in Ireland on and off for the past six months, said pretrial release officer Erin Welch. He did not mention his trip to Cambodia, Welch said.
Judge Suzan Clark on Wednesday held Heller in lieu of $500,000 bail.
“If he has fled to that extent, the flight risk is of great concern,” Clark said.
She set an Oct. 15 hearing in front of Judge Gregory Gonzales to reschedule Heller’s trial. Heller’s attorney, Bob Vukanovich, indicated he also would ask Gonzales to reconsider Heller’s bail amount. Vukanovich suggested that the court could confiscate Heller’s Irish passport to prevent him from leaving the country.
The arrest came nearly two months after Heller’s defense attorney and supervised release officer lost contact with him.
Heller is accused of raping a girl multiple times.
When he was released from jail last year, he was ordered to stay with his half-brother, Keith Griffith, in Kelso. Griffith told the officer that Heller moved without letting him know what his new address would be. A bench warrant was issued for Heller’s arrest at the end of July for not reporting his new address as required by law, court documents said.
Then, after Heller didn’t appear for an Aug. 7 court appointment, Deputy Prosecutor Patrick Robinson filed a charge of bail-jumping against him.
