A Woodstock man on the run from police for trying to buy a 5-year-old online, was arrested Friday evening in Canada.
Patrick Molesti was wanted by the Cherokee County Sheriff on charges of sexual exploitation of children.
Sheriff's deputies found child pornography on Molesti's computer last week, and he fled the county, Sheriff's office spokesman Lt. Jay Baker said.
Cherokee deputies, with the help of the U.S. Marshal's office, Secret Service agents and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, were able to track Molesti, 56, to a location, then into Canada, Baker said.
"We believe his intention was to get into Canada, then get on a flight to France," Baker told the AJC Friday night.
Molesti is a French national, and authorities worried that extradition laws there might have made it difficult to bring him back to Cherokee County.
Investigators last week got a tip that Molesti was specifically looking through Web sites and online chat rooms for a 5-year-old boy to purchase, Baker said.
After obtaining a warrant to search Molesti's home, Baker said investigators "found some evidence to corroborate that tip, and found the child pornography on his computer."
Investigators tracked Molesti to a location in Wyoming and learned he boarded a bus today bound for Calgary, Canada.
When the bus stopped for fuel in Thunder Bay officers with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police boarded the bus and arrested Molesti, Baker said.
It is unclear when Molesti will be returned to Cherokee County, but Baker said more charges likely are pending over the next few days for the child pornography image found on Molesti's computer.
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