A Vancouver man accused of fleeing to Cambodia to avoid prosecution of child rape charges in Clark County is scheduled to be tried on the charges Jan. 12.
Ian Andrew Heller, 25, pleaded not guilty in Clark County Superior Court on Wednesday to a new charge of bail jumping, related to his trip to Cambodia.
Judge Gregory Gonzales denied a request by Heller’s attorney, Bob Vukanovich, to reduce Heller’s bail amount, which is $500,000.
“The defendant fled to Cambodia while this (rape) case was pending,” said Deputy Prosecutor Patrick Robinson. “While he was in the Los Angeles jail, he said he was going to flee again, that he had an Irish passport.”
Vukanovich suggested making Heller forfeit his passport as a condition of release and reducing bail to no more than $100,000.
Heller was apprehended by local police in Preah Sihanouk province and then was sent to the department of immigration in Phnom Penh, according to The Cambodia Daily.
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.
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.
