Barrett Preston Busschau, age 43, from South Africa, has
ended a 25-year fugitive hunt to face charges in Portland, Oregon. He arrived
in Portland on September 5, 2018, at which time the FBI arranged for Clackamas
County Sheriff’s Office deputies to meet his plane to arrest Busschau, who
agreed to return to the United States to face sex abuse charges.
Busschau will be arraigned on the failure to appear charge
before a state circuit court judge at the Clackamas County Courthouse at 3 p.m.
on Thursday, September 6, 2018. At the same time, he will also make an initial
appearance on the Clackamas County sex abuse charges.
Authorities in Clackamas County arrested Busschau on July
27, 1993, for the alleged molestation of five girls between the ages of ten and
fifteen. At that time, he faced state charges in Clackamas County for first
degree sexual penetration with a foreign object; first degree sexual abuse;
third degree sodomy; third degree rape; and third degree sexual abuse. A grand
jury in Washington County also indicted Busschau on additional charges related
to two of the same victims in 1993. Those Washington County charges included
first degree unlawful sexual penetration; first degree sexual abuse (2 counts);
third degree rape (3 counts); and third degree sodomy (4 counts). Busschau fled
before the court process in either Clackamas or Washington County could
proceed.
In the months that followed, grand juries in both Clackamas
County and Washington County indicted Busschau on charges of failure to appear.
On October 18, 1994, the FBI obtained an unlawful flight to avoid prosecution
(federal fugitive) warrant.
The Fugitive Felon Act is used to marshal federal resources
to support the location and apprehension of fugitives from state justice. As is
typical in such cases, federal authorities will dismiss the federal fugitive
charge when state prosecution on the underlying substantive charges proceeds.
Busschau is a South African citizen who came to the United
States as a child. In 1989, he obtained legal permanent resident status.
Busschau’s surrender follows a year of increased publicity
efforts by FBI Portland and the Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office to
bring resolution to this long-running fugitive hunt. That fugitive publicity
effort included features on FBI.gov, press releases, social media posts on
Twitter and Facebook, and Facebook ads in both the Pacific Northwest and South
Africa. Busschau’s captured poster can be seen at
https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/cac/barrett-preston-busschau.
“For a quarter of a century, Barrett Busschau managed to
hide half-a-world away,” said Renn Cannon, special agent in charge of the FBI
in Oregon. “Thanks to an FBI case agent’s persistence, the prosecutors and
partnerships stretching from Oregon to South Africa, Mr. Busschau will finally
have to face these serious allegations and his accusers in court.”
Criminal charges are only an accusation of a crime, and all
defendants should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
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