until SAT 12:00 AM PDT, Seattle and vicinity, Western Whatcom County, Western Skagit County, Everett and vicinity, West Slopes North Cascades and Passes, West Slopes North Central Cascades and Passes, East Puget Sound Lowlands, Bellevue and Vicinity, Seattle and vicinity, Bremerton and vicinity, Tacoma Area, Hood Canal Area, Olympics, Admiralty Inlet Area, Lower Chehalis Valley Area, Eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca, Western Strait of Juan De Fuca, North Coast, Central Coast, West Slopes South Central Cascades and Passes, Southwest Interior, Wenatchee Area

Man extradited from Mexico to be arraigned in Bellevue for child rape charges

Published August 31, 2015 5:32pm PDT

Associated Press

BELLEVUE, Wash. (AP) — Bellevue police say a 32-year-old man who fled to Mexico to avoid facing child rape charges has been extradited. Victor Cerda is to be arraigned Tuesday in King County Superior Court.

Police said in a statement Monday that Cerda was charged in 2003 with two counts of second-degree child rape.

Authorities say he fled to Mexico shortly after he was charged, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Prosecutors have since amended the charges to two counts of first-degree child rape.

In 2011, Bellevue detectives began working with the U.S. Marshals to find Cerda in Mexico. Cerda was arrested earlier this year in Jalisco, Mexico, and later extradited to Washington state.

He is being held in King County Jail on $300,000 bail.

Cerda's public defender, Josephine Wiggs-Martin, declined comment on Monday.