Canadian held in Nepal on child sex abuse charges

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) -- A Canadian tourist with records of several previous child sex offenses has been arrested in Nepal on charges that he lured a 9-year-old boy to his hotel room and had sex with him, police official said Saturday.

Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh, 71, was arrested at a hotel in Lalitpur, a suburb south of the capital, Kathmandu. He was ordered detained by the district court until the charges can be further investigated, Lalitpur's police chief Pushpa Ranjit said.

Officials were not giving others details on the case because it involves a minor.

If convicted, MacIntosh could face up to 10 years in jail.

MacIntosh arrived in Nepal on a tourist visa in August 2014, and has been a frequent visitor to the children's shelter where the boy lived and they met there. Macintosh also allegedly  threatened the boy, police said.

Canadian news reports said he was from Nova Scotia and has 17 child sex offense convictions against him.

He was accused of sexually abusing boys in the 1970s and the allegations surfaced in 1995, when he was living in India.

But he wasn't extradited until 2007, and the first of his two trials in Nova Scotia didn't start until 2010. His convictions were quashed in April 2013.

 Police were also investigating if there were any other minors involved.