U.S. Department of Justice

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Press Release

February 07, 2007

International Fugitive Arrested

FBI Special Agent in Charge, Weysan Dun, Springfield Division, and Schuyler County Sheriff Don Schieferdecker, announced the arrest of Richard David Kitch, in Butuan, Philippines on 02/06/2007.

Kitch, age 55, from Camden, Illinois, was previously arrested by the Schuyler County, Illinois, Sheriff’s Department on March 03, 2005, and charged with Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault of a Child and Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse of a Child. In June, 2005, Kitch posted bond and failed to appear at a scheduled court hearing on September 07, 2005, resulting in the issuance of an arrest warrant. On October 12, 2005, Kitch was tried in absentia and found guilty of nine counts of Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault of a Child and one count of Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse of a Child. On November, 29, 2005, Kitch was sentenced to life in prison for the Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault of a Child offenses, and fourteen years in prison on the Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse charge, by the Circuit Court, Schuyler County, Illinois.

On December 08, 2005, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Kitch for Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution.

Kitch was located and arrested on 02/06/2007 in Butuan, Philippines, with the assistance of the FBI Legal Attache office in Manila, the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation, the United States Marshal’s Service, and the Schuyler County Sheriff’s Department.

Kitch remains in custody in the Philippines, pending deportation.