Liberian Based In U.S. Tobias Bowen Deported From UK Stands Trial In U.S. For Sexually Abusing a Child

Mr. Tobias Bowen

CLAY, N.Y. — Six years ago, Tobias A. Bowen fled the country in an attempt to escape charges accusing him of sexually abusing a child in Clay.

Bowen, 49, who used to live at 4783 Norstar Blvd., Clay, was arrested in March 2010 and charged with third-degree rape and third-degree criminal sexual act. He’s accused of having sex with a child who was younger than 17 for years old.

Shortly after posting bail, Bowen left the country — fleeing over 4,000 miles to Liberia, his native country, said Sgt. Jon Seeber, a spokesman for the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office.

More than six years later, Bowen has been returned to Onondaga County, Seeber announced Friday.

Bowen was arrested in April 2014 after stepping off an airplane in London, Seeber said. He was recently extradited back to the United States and will appear Friday before an Onondaga County Court judge.

During his years on the run, Bowen traveled thousands of miles and ran one of Liberia’s biggest public hospitals. He was a doctor in Liberia.

Bowen worked as the chief administrator of the Redemption Hospital in Liberia while he was a fugitive from justice, Seeber said in 2014. He was arrested in a London airport on April 19, 2014 after he flew to the United Kingdom to visit family.

Bowen has been in custody and awaiting extradition since his arrest.

His case made headlines in England for several years as it made it through the courts there.

In January 2015, a judge in London stopped his extradition, ruling that Bowen would suffer a breach of his human rights if he was extradited. The judge said he made the ruling because there was a chance Bowen would face an indefinite prison sentence.

The judge cited New York State’s civil confinement law for high-risk sex offenders that allows the state to keep some sex offenders locked up indefinitely by moving them to a mental health institution after they have finished their prison sentence.

In January 2016, another London court rules that Bowen should be extradited to the United States.

He is being held in the Onondaga County Justice Center without bail.

Clay man arrested on child sex charges fled to native Liberia to lead government-run hospital.

SOURCES: NewsNow/The Post Standard Online