Cameras rolled as couple wanted for child rape in U.S. arrested in Toronto
ANDREW FLYNN
TORONTO (CP) - The police search for an American couple wanted in the sex abuse of a handicapped four-year-old girl ended Thursday in dramatic fashion with the fugitive pair taken into custody as TV cameras rolled.
John Stoneman, 39, and Patricia Kelley, 39, of Kipling, Ohio were arrested after an investigation by teams from the Toronto Police fugitive squad, provincial police and the Canada Border Services Agency. "This is a pretty good day for everybody," said Det. Mike McGivern of the provincial police Repeat Offender Parole Enforcement squad.
"These two committed some pretty horrible crimes down in Ohio."
Kelley, a former homecare nurse, and her boyfriend Stoneman are wanted for terrorizing the severely handicapped child, who is blind and suffers from spina bifida, hydrocephalus, diabetes and seizures.
Police apprehended Kelley at a Toronto restaurant where she was working as a waitress. She then led police to an apartment, where they arrested Stoneman.
A tip on her whereabouts was called in to provincial police just as a film crew from the crime-busting TV show America's Most Wanted was interviewing officers about the case.
"So, while America's Most Wanted is doing some film clips with me of my investigation . . . we get a tip and, I mean, when does that ever happen?" McGivern said in an interview.
The show may use the footage of officers receiving word of the tip and the subsequent capture in a story to be aired Saturday night, McGivern said.
Police were trying to obtain a search warrant Thursday for the couple's west-end apartment and the investigation will involve the child exploitation unit. Further charges could be laid against them, Givens said, though he stressed no evidence has yet been found linking them to a crime in Canada.
If they do face charges in Canada they would likely stay to face them, otherwise they will probably be extradited to the United States, said Givens.
An employee at the restaurant where police arrested Kelley, who was working under the alias Denise Griffin, said staff were shocked when police arrived to arrest her.
"She was very trustable, very faithful and I thought (she and Stoneman were) very loving, caring people - we all thought," said the employee, who asked not to be named.
"I thought it had to be a mistake or something."
He said there had been no problems with Kelley during her part-time employment, begun last fall.
"We run a very peaceful ship and never had any problems in the 30 years we've been here."
Police began looking for the couple in Ontario after a car in which they fled was found at an Orillia pawn shop, about 130 kilometres north of Toronto.
When the owner tried to transfer the vehicle ownership into Canada, police discovered the couple was wanted.
Stoneman and Kelly were originally arrested in the United States after images found in a child porn case in California were linked to an Ohio computer.
Police then found a tape, which allegedly showed the couple with the young girl and a two-way mirror and a camera used to videotape children changing their clothes.
The couple fled after posting bail.