Immigration officials have deported a United Kingdom resident wanted on decades-old child molestation charges in that country after arresting him in Wasilla earlier this month.
Lawrence William Farrington, 54, had been living in the United States since he arrived in 1993 on a tourist visa, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE. While living in Wasilla, Farrington took the name "William Postek" and illegally used a Social Security number to file for Alaska Permanent Fund dividend payments from 2003 to 2007, federal court records show. After a conviction for identity theft and Social Security fraud, Farrington was ordered to leave the U.S. in 2009, said ICE spokesman Andrew Munoz.
"Essentially, he was dragging his feet and didn't do that," Munoz said.
It's unclear when police in Great Britain began investigating Farrington for allegedly sexually assaulting a child but immigration officials learned of the investigation in 1998, Munoz said. They were unable to locate Farrington at the time but the identity theft conviction and Farrington's indictment in February on the assault charges in Britain made the case a priority this year, Munoz said.
Officers with ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations division arrested Farrington in Wasilla on Nov. 5, said Munoz, who declined to comment on specific details of the arrest. Farrington, apparently unaware of the looming charges in the United Kingdom, was flown to Seattle and then to London, where he arrived Wednesday, Munoz said.
"He was not aware that he would be arrested on his arrival back to the U.K. He didn't know about the pending warrants for arrest related to the assaults," Munoz said. "He first became aware of it when the plane landed and they asked everyone to remain seated and six U.K. police officers came on to arrest him. It wasn't what he expected when he arrived."
Reach Casey Grove at casey.grove@adn.com or 257-4589.
By CASEY GROVE