Thread: Mex. National held on 1M bond in child sex abuse case

Mexican National Held on $1 Million Bond in Child Sex Abuse
This article was published on Thursday, August 16, 2007 6:33 PM CDT in News
By Robin Mero
THE MORNING NEWS
Email this story Print this story Comment on this story BENTONVILLE -- A Mexican national who fought extradition to Arkansas for more than a year pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges accusing him of raping children.

A judge ordered that Daniel Lopez Bibiano, 34, be held in lieu of a $1 million bond on two charges of rape, one charge of attempted rape and two charges of sexual assault against five girls ages 5 to 15.

Benton County Senior Circuit Judge Tom Keith set an Oct. 29 omnibus hearing and Dec. 11 jury trial for Bibiano and appointed a public defender to represent him.

Bentonville Police began searching for Bibiano in March 2006 after interviewing him about claims from five children who said he raped or assaulted them. He soon disappeared and a relative admitted dropping him off at a bus terminal in Tulsa, Okla. At the time, Bibiano had been living at 102 N.W. "K" St. in Bentonville.

Prosecutors filed formal charges in August. The rape charges involve 5- and 10-year-old girls, the attempted rape of a 15-year-old, and the sexual assault charges involve girls ages 12 and 13.

The investigation began when a woman went to the lobby of the Bentonville Police Department in March 2006, saying her children said Bibiano molested them. Five children were interviewed at the Children's Advocacy Center and told stories of him fondling them, making them perform oral sex and forcing them to watch pornography, court documents state.

The girls' mothers had left them alone with Bibiano many times. One day, one of the elder girls was talking to her mother and aunt about a friend who was pregnant. They began talking about whether the daughter was a virgin, and she said "yes" but that someone had been "messing with her." This began the conversation about the abuse, and the women asked the younger girls if Bibiano had touched them as well, court documents state.

Deputy Prosecutor Stephanie McLemore said U.S. Marshals helped locate Bibiano in Mexico. Prosecutors worked with the U.S. Department of Justice's International Affairs Division to extradite him back to Arkansas. He went through a series of appeals in Mexico and was returned to Benton County on Wednesday.

http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2007/ ... ibiano.txt
Reader Comments (25 comment(s))

This sexual predator deserves the death penalty!

Benton County : Fugitive to return for bond hearing
BY TRACIE DUNGAN

Posted on Tuesday, August 14, 2007

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A man wanted by Bentonville police on sex offense charges involving children will be extradited from Mexico this week, federal and state officials said Monday.

Daniel Lopez Bibiano, 33, is expected to arrive back in Arkansas in time for a bond hearing in Benton County Circuit Judge Tom Keith’s court Thursday morning, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Stephanie McLemore said.

Dick O’Connell, U. S. marshal for the Western District of Arkansas, said his office learned Friday that Mexico’s high court had cleared the way earlier that week for Bibiano’s extradition.

Last year, Bibiano fled the country after the Bentonville Police Department began investigating him.

“Mexico has been reluctant in the past to send a Mexican citizen back to the United States for prosecution,â€