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Associated PressArthur Carl Kanev fled the Central American nation while free on bail on charges of raping girls.
FORT LAUDERDALE - A retired American dentist accused of drugging girls for sex at a beach house in Costa Rica has agreed to be sent to the Central American nation for prosecution, a U.S. prosecutor said Monday.
Dr. Arthur Carl Kanev, 57, was arrested last July as he returned to his mother's condominium in Pompano Beach after a monthlong stakeout by Broward County sheriff's deputies. Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Chase said Kanev would formally drop his challenge to extradition at a hearing today. Defense attorney William Aaron did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Costa Rican authorities arrested Kanev after hundreds of pictures of child pornography were found at his beach house in 1999. Authorities said Kanev and a cohort drugged and raped local girls, some as young as 13, and took pornographic pictures of them.
Kanev, formerly from Waltham, Mass., fled Costa Rica while free on bail. He denied any wrongdoing in an interview in 2000 on ABC's 20/20 about the Costa Rican sex trade, and he was profiled on America's Most Wanted in 2001.
In extradition papers, Costa Rica named eight victims and offered statements from several teenagers who said five men were staying at the house. Authorities said poor girls were offered marijuana, liquor, food and the use of a swimming pool and nearby beach.
Girls said they also were sedated and woke up realizing someone had sexually assaulted them. Police found sedatives and pictures of sleeping, partially nude girls when they searched the house.
Some of the girls said they consented to sex. A 16-year-old said she was paid every time she brought a new friend to the house. She received money for visits with no sex but more for sex. A girl said she had sex with "Arturo" on her second visit and he used condoms.
Another girl said she visited the house three times a week and pictures were taken on some visits. A 19-year-old said she once woke up topless and feeling drugged.
Kanev was charged with rape, unauthorized use of drugs and corruption of minors.
Joe Curtis Baker, an Oklahoma City veterinarian charged along with Kanev, was sentenced in Costa Rica to 24 years in prison. The Costa Rican sex industry has come under international scrutiny. A United Nations report in 1998 estimated the country had hundreds of child prostitutes. The government created an office to address sex crimes in 1999.