Fugitive accused of child rape in Utah arrested after evading police around world for 2 years

Brian Helton, accused of raping a child in Utah in 2016, is pictured after being arrested in the San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, Sept. 19, 2018 | Photo courtesy of U.S. Marshals Service, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — A man accused of raping a child in Layton was arrested Wednesday after a two-year manhunt for him included officials from across the globe.

Brian Helton, 45, allegedly raped and sodomized a child living in the same home as him in Layton in 2016. He had moved from Chicago and was living with a family friend in Davis County when the sexual abuse allegedly occurred twice over a two-week period, according to a press release from the U.S. Marshals Service.

Once the child told the parents what was going on, Helton immediately packed up his few belongings, fled the state and went back to Chicago,” officials wrote on the press release. 

U.S. Marshals from Utah started to get involved with the case in an attempt to arrest Helton, but despite their “fervent” investigation, they were “always seeming to be a step behind,” according to the press release.

He was eventually discovered to be living in Thailand, but when Helton began to be suspicious that the Royal Thai Police were getting close to apprehending him, he fled to Japan in an attempt to sneak back into the U.S., officials said.

When Helton boarded a direct flight from Japan to San Francisco, Japanese officials, through Interpol, notified the U.S. Marshals Service Wednesday afternoon. Officials arrested the “surprised” Helton in the San Francisco International Airport without further incident, according to the press release.

“Through the tireless efforts of our investigators, including our domestic and international partners, this fugitive who has been on the run for over two years will finally be brought to justice,” U.S. Marshal Mathew Harris said. “Time may pass, but deputy U.S. Marshals never quit until we find our man.” 

Now that he’s back in the U.S., Helton faces his charges from the Layton Police Department, including sodomy of a child, aggravated sexual abuse of a child and object rape of a child.

“It doesn’t matter where in the world the fugitive chooses to run, they will eventually get caught,” Supervisor Deputy U.S. Marshal Derryl Spencer said.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter:  @STGnews | @SpencerRicks

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2018, all rights reserved.

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6 Comments

  • comments September 19, 2018 at 6:54 pm

    “It doesn’t matter where in the world the fugitive chooses to run, they will eventually get caught,” Supervisor Deputy U.S. Marshal Derryl Spencer said.

    Unless it’s the holy Prophet Brother Warran Jeffs living right here in the land of Zion. What’s the story with that I’d like to know. A sanctuary state for mormon pedophile prophets of THE LORD?

  • Striker4 September 19, 2018 at 8:23 pm

    old news ……yawn

  • Red2Blue310 September 19, 2018 at 10:54 pm

    Glad they caught this perv. Hope hes sent up for the rest of his life. He should be branded for what hes done.

  • Kilroywashere September 19, 2018 at 11:24 pm

    Hello ! Warren Jeffs is still behind bars Comments. Dont get your point. Are you referring to “the brother of” ? Wording is ambiguous at best. Not nitpicking but doesn’t translate

    • comments September 20, 2018 at 1:07 am

      The LDS church/gov’t apparatus of UT could only keep the holy Prophet Brother Warran Jeffs safe and secure in his wicked ways so long as he stayed and did his wicked deeds within the borders of the holy land of Zion. The Prophet got overconfident and ventured into the lone star state to rape little girls there and was no longer under the protection of THE LORD’S ONE TRUE CHURCH. THE LORD’S ONE TRUE CHURCH doesn’t wield a big stick in TX the same way they do in UT.

      comprende senor?

  • Kilroywashere September 20, 2018 at 12:46 pm

    Got it Comments. So he wasn’t busted til he went to Texas. Entiendo ahora. I did see the interview of his children on TV two years ago. They claimed they were sexually abused by him. I believe them. Sadly he apparently still has a following from his prison cell. I wonder if those followers saw the interview of his kids. My guess No. He probably gave them a prophetic command to not watch TV or something.

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