Investigators trailed him to Suzhou, a city in China, where he is believed to have been working at the local office of a U.S.-based company. The U.S. does not have an extradition agreement with the Chinese government to return fugitives. However, such a treaty does exist between the U.S. and Hong Kong. In the past several weeks, investigators discovered Freeman was planning to travel to Hong Kong.

Many people talk about the problems of globalization and how the increased interactivity among nations has been nothing but trouble. This case illustrates, though, the remarkable cooperation between American and Chinese law ennforcement (two incredibly anti-cooperative systems) to catch an alleged child molester who fled from the US to China (each year there is some sort of joke among the long term expat crowd that the only reason a certain strange newly arrived American is in China is because he is on the run from the law…and now it seems that we may have been right). Generally, fugituive laws don’t require immediate transport back to the requesting state unless they waive extradition (the point is let them come quickly or sweat it out in the local hell hole) but I’m sure he’ll be on the first transport back to Washington.

Accused rapist faces Hong Kong extradition hearing