Fugitive spotted on reality show appears in court
Authorities say suspect in sex crime fled country to avoid trial 10 years ago
By Alex Bridges -- abridges@nvdaily.comTag: Charlottesville Attorney
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WINCHESTER -- A man authorities say fled the country to avoid trial on a sex crime charge pleaded guilty Tuesday for failing to appear in court 10 years ago.
William Edgar Dick II appeared in Frederick County Circuit Court with his attorney, public defender Timothy Coyne.
Dick, 30, with a last known address of Polk City, Fla., pleaded guilty to the felony charge of failing to appear in the court Jan. 9, 2002. Retired Judge Benjamin Kendrick accepted the plea.
Kendrick set Dick's charge of forcible sodomy for a jury trial April 27. The judge delayed sentencing on the failure to appear charge until the same date. Commonwealth's Attorney Glenn Williamson did not object to continuing Dick's sentencing to the April date.
Dick remains held at the Northwestern Regional Adult Detention Center.
Authorities accuse Dick of committing forcible sodomy against a male victim on June 10, 2000. A grand jury indicted Dick on the charge a year later, court records show. A judge scheduled his jury trial for Jan. 9, 2002, but Dick failed to appear. Authorities searched unsuccessfully for the defendant, who was declared a fugitive by the court.
Investigators with the Frederick County Sheriff's Office continued to look for clues into Dick's whereabouts and had hints he may have fled the country, possibly to Costa Rica.
In 2010 an investigator received a tip from a friend of the alleged victim in the sodomy case that the fugitive had appeared as a bartender in an episode of the MTV reality show, "The Hills," which the network filmed in Costa Rica. Further investigation confirmed Dick appeared in the episode under a different name, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Harrisonburg.
A federal judge in U.S. District Court in Harrisonburg on Oct. 25, 2010, issued a complaint and a warrant for Dick's arrest for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
Costa Rican authorities handed Dick over to United States custody, although extradition policies and other hurdles had delayed the process for months. Dick returned to the U.S., and ultimately Frederick County, in August.
A Frederick County Circuit Court grand jury indicted Dick on the charge of failing to appear in September.
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