After decades, authorities find child sexual abuser in California

“[T]here are cases you never forget, some that are always in the back of your mind that you hope one day to solve,” says a Louisiana sheriff.

That official can now rest a bit easier regarding at least one such case, a harrowing tale of child sexual abuse that recently entered a new phase with the arrest of a predator who had eluded capture for decades.

That man — known as “Mr. Wonder” in television shows he hosted in Louisiana in the 1970s — was on the verge of being arrested in 1979 on two counts of obscene behavior with a juvenile while on a camping trip.

Somehow tipped off, he fled the country to Brazil, where his trail grew cold. Criminal investigators believe that he thereafter lived quietly with his wife under an assumed name in many parts of the United States.

Last month, 37 years after his escape from Louisiana, the man — now 79 — was finally arrested in San Diego County, where he has allegedly been living for the past three decades.

“If there was a definition of a sexual predator, this was one,” says the Louisiana sheriff. While initially investigating the man, authorities learned of prior sexual allegations brought against him when he worked in Japan years before.

And that is not all. The trail of abuse might ultimately lead to multiple American states and various overseas locales in addition to Japan.

Alarmingly, the man was continuously active over many years while in California in roles where he was in close proximity with children. Among other things, he was a physical education teacher, soccer coach, swim instructor and Cub Scout leader.

The man is currently in custody in San Diego County pending further developments in his case.