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 Dhan Pun, 41, was arrested last March and charged with two counts
of third-degree child rape and one count of third-degree child
molestation in connection with accusations that he had raped his
then-15-year-old stepdaughter.
But Pun posted $50,000 bail and fled to Nepal ahead of a November
court date, said Kathy Jo Blake, a deputy prosecuting attorney for
Snohomish County. His defense lawyer had been negotiating a plea
agreement with prosecutors at the time, she said.
The additional charges against Pun, which were filed in King County
Superior Court earlier this week, accuse him of raping his
stepdaughter four or five times a month between 2010 and 2012,
beginning when she was 13. They include two counts of second-degree
child rape and a second count of third-degree child rape.
Prosecutors said the abuse began in 2009 after Pun created a fake
online identity of a boy that he used to befriend his stepdaughter
on Facebook.
When the girl confided the abuse to Pun's alter-ego, she was
encouraged to continue having sex with Pun, according to court
documents.
Prosecutors say they would like to return Pun, who is wanted on a
$100,000 fugitive warrant, to the Seattle area to face the charges,
but the United States has no bilateral extradition treaty with
Nepal.
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"Its been extremely difficult when we've tried before to extradite
people from countries where there is no agreement," Blake said. "I
don't believe we've been successful."
Together with his wife, Pun founded the Women's Prevention and
Protection Center Nepal Foundation in Washington, which is devoted
to "fighting against human trafficking and changing lives one woman,
one child at a time," according to its website.
In the event Pun returns, King County prosecutors are requesting his
bail be set at $500,000.
(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Prudence Crowther)
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