PORT ANGELES — A Sequim-area construction worker accused of molesting a 13-year-old girl refused Monday in Clallam County Superior Court to be extradited to Marion County, Ind., on a nationwide $40,000 felony arrest warrant.
Samuel Edward Ferrer, 25, declined to waive extradition Monday in a hearing before Judge Brian Coughenour for what the warrant said were two counts of child molestation.
Coughenour committed Ferrer to the Clallam County jail for 30 days, set bail at $40,000 on a charge of fugitive from justice from another state and set a review hearing for 9 a.m. Oct. 20.
A woman, who said she knew Ferrer, was crying at the hearing Monday.
“I just found all of these things and I want to see him go away for peace of mind,” she said.
Sequim police arrested Ferrer on Saturday afternoon on the warrant without incident at his Sequim apartment, Sequim Police Sgt. Dave Campbell said Monday.
Ferrer’s sister had called Sequim police earlier Saturday to ask them to do a welfare check on him, Campbell said.
She said she had not been able to make contact with him in more than a month and that Ferrer had been inactive in their joint bank account during that same time frame, according to the Sequim Police Department’s case report.
Police discovered the warrant when they did a “persons check” of Ferrer’s background before contacting him, according to the case report.
The warrant was issued by Marion County, Ind., Superior Court Judge Mark Stoner.
Public information officers from the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office did not return calls for comment Monday.
Port Angeles lawyer Loren Oakley of Clallam Public Defender, representing Ferrer, said his client had lived in Sequim for a few months.
A media summary report issued by the Indianapolis, Ind., Metropolitan Police Department listed the allegation against Ferrer that led to the arrest warrant, agency spokesman Jim Gillespie said.
The offense was sex crime-child fondling and was dated July 6.
The nationwide warrant for his arrest was issued Oct. 2, Campbell said.
“Indiana must have wanted him pretty badly,” he said.
“One of our officers had made contact with him before, so he was familiar with him,” Campbell said, adding criminal activity was not a factor.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@ peninsuladailynews.com.