A registered sex offender from the US who went missing after entering Taiwan has been found and would be deported in light of the risk he poses to the public, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday.
The agency launched a search for Levi Forrest Wallace, 43, after it was informed by the American Institute of Taiwan (AIT) that he had entered Taiwan on Oct. 2 on a tourist visa.
He was not on the US government’s wanted list.
Photo courtesy of the National Immigration Agency
Wallace was sentenced to 90 days in jail with a two-year probation in 2001 after he was convicted of sexual delinquency of a minor in Oregon, information from the AIT showed.
Wallace did not stay in a hotel in Taoyuan as stated on his card, the NIA said, adding that he was then placed on the agency’s closely watched list and would not be permitted to stay when found.
The agency subsequently alerted the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Labor and National Police Agency to watch out for Wallace and prevent him from finding a job or securing a permit to stay in Taiwan, the NIA said.
The education ministry also asked education departments across the country to report by today whether any cram school in their locality had hired Wallace.
Before finding Wallace, the NIA had said he would be deported from Taiwan and permanently banned from entering again pursuant to the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法).
The agency’s requests for a subpoena and permission to wiretap were both denied by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, on the grounds that the agency had no right to do so, as Wallace had committed no crime in Taiwan and had no criminal motive or attempt.
The AIT did not respond to the NIA’s inquiry on whether Wallace could return to the US, the agency said.
The Taoyuan Police Department’s Dayuan Precinct located Wallace in an apartment on Taipei’s Minsheng E Road at about 5pm yesterday and detained him.
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