Judge: Sex offender can be extradited

RENO -- A convicted sex offender accused of raping a 9-year-old girl in Canada nearly 30 years ago was ordered by a federal judge Monday to return to that country to face charges.

After a hearing, U.S. Magistrate Robert McQuaid Jr. determined that enough evidence existed to extradite Wilbur James Ventling for the 1979 attack in Vernon, British Columbia.

The judge rejected arguments by Ventling's federal public defender, Mike Powell, who argued that DNA evidence was incomplete and therefore unreliable. Powell also said that four fingerprint experts were divided on whether a bloody print left on a napkin at the scene belonged to Ventling.

McQuaid gave Canadian officials 60 days to retrieve Ventling. The extradition must be processed through diplomatic channels, Assistant U.S. Attorney James Keller told the court.

Ventling, 63, was arrested in October at his Carson City home after Canadian authorities reviewed the 28-year-old case and submitted evidence and DNA collected at the scene for international DNA comparisons.

That led them to Ventling, who served a prison sentence in Nevada for other sex crimes committed in 1979. When he was released from prison, Ventling registered as a sex offender and was required to submit a DNA sample to state authorities.