The Costa Rican news website crhoy.com reported that a convicted U.S. pedophile was deported on Friday morning, following his detention in the central Pacific town of Jacó earlier this week.
Immigration Administration Director Kathya Rodríguez confirmed the deportation Friday morning.
Kirk Owen, 56, had been living in Costa Rica since 2006, two months after completing a probation sentence for his second child molestation conviction. Owen had convictions in Oklahoma in 2002 and in his home-state of Kansas in 1987. Owen was living in Florida prior to moving to Costa Rica.
Authorities have also put a five-year restriction on Owen re-entering Costa Rica, according to crhoy.com.
Owen is not currently facing charges on child molestation in Costa Rica nor in the United States. Instead, after living in Costa Rica for more than six years, Interpol sent an alert to Costa Rican authorities on his past convictions.
The crhoy.com story cited Rodríguez as saying that Owen never had a permanent visa, only a tourist visa. Despite this fact, Owen committed several technical violations of the tourist visa during his tenure in the country.
Owen also faced a charge of making threats with a firearm in the Garabito section of Jacó. Owning a firearm would also be a violation of a tourist visa. Owen also owned property and a Porsche in Garabito.
Despite these technical violations, Costa Rican authorities said Owen’s risky profile was the reason for his deportation.
