Fugitive Abuser Arrested in Argentina
SANTIAGO, Chile — Religious sect leader Paul Schaefer, who has been convicted of sexually abusing 26 children and is one of Chile’s most wanted fugitives, was arrested Thursday in Argentina.
Schaefer, 84, who moved to Chile with a group of German families and established the Colonia Dignidad religious cult and farming commune in 1961, is also wanted in Germany on abuse charges.
A Chilean court charged Schaefer in 1996 with the sexual abuse of more than two dozen children who went to the free school and clinic at Colonia Dignidad. He then disappeared.
Late last year, a Chilean judge convicted Schaefer in absentia. Cult members convicted of covering up his crimes have appealed their sentences.
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