Cuba Deports US Man On
Sex Offences In Costa
Rica
Cuba proved to be no
refuge for an American
fugitive who was
deported Friday to face
federal charges in
California of sexually
abusing a Costa Rican
girl and possessing
child pornography.
Leonard B. Auerbach, 61,
evidently thought he was
beyond the reach of U.S.
law enforcement in Cuba,
which has no extradition
treaty with the United
States. He sent e-mails
to friends last month
boasting of how he
escaped arrest, said Rob
Chrisman, an
acquaintance of
Auerbach's in the San
Francisco Bay Area.
"I am in some kind of
paradise here and I'm so
safe, it's laughable,"
Chrisman said Auerbach
wrote in one email from
Cuba, where he fled
after he was put on a
federal "most wanted"
list.
It wasn't immediately
clear how U.S. officials
tracked him down, but
they evidently alerted
Cuban authorities to his
presence on the island
and he was arrested on
May 7, about a month
after his arrival.
Federal prosecutor
Andrew Huang in San
Francisco referred
questions to a
spokesman, who did not
immediately return a
telephone call.
Cuba said Friday it
decided to deport
Auerbach because his
alleged crimes "are of a
grave character and
strongly fought by our
authorities." The
Foreign Ministry added
that there is no
evidence he committed
crimes in Cuba.
Such deportations are an
increasingly common
example of cooperation
between the United
States and communist
Cuba.
Leonard B. Auerbach is
the fourth American
fugitive Cuba has
deported to the United
States since President
Raul Castro first took
provisional power from
his ailing brother Fidel
in July 2006.
Auerbach is charged in
the United States with
one count of engaging in
illicit sexual conduct
in foreign places and
one count of possession
of child pornography.
The sex tourism charge
carries a maximum
penalty of 30 years in
prison and a US$250,000
fine. The maximum
penalty for possession
of child pornography is
10 years in prison and a
US$250,000 fine.
The U.S. alleges that
there are dozens more
U.S. fugitives that Cuba
has not deported,
including several former
Black Panthers accusing
of killings and other
violent acts in the
1960s and 1970s.
Among the U.S. fugitives
Cuba has refused to hand
over is former Black
Liberation Army member
Assata Shakur — also
known as Joanne
Chesimard — convicted in
the 1973 killing of a
New Jersey state
trooper.
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