Government set to extradite American to Philippines

JAKARTA (JP): The government is scheduled on Friday to extradite American national Dennis Austin Standefer, 55, to the Philippines, where he will be facing fraud and rape charges in Manila.

He is wanted in the Philippines primarily for the rape of a 16-year-old Filipino girl in 1994, a crime which carries the death penalty there.

"This is the first time the country will be making use of the extradition agreement it has with the Philippines, since the law was established in 1976," Sr. Comr. Timbul Sianturi of the National Police information center told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Standefer was arrested in Jakarta in August 1999, for violating Indonesia's immigration regulations, when he overstayed his immigration permit by 10 months.

Married in Jakarta to an Indonesian woman and father of a girl, Dennis told the Post on Friday that he had only been told by police officers to get ready at 4 a.m. on Friday.

"I believe I will be taken to the Philippines, via Philippine Airlines. The charges against me are false. Immigration documents will prove that I was never in the Philippines in 1994, when the alleged rape occurred," Dennis said.

According to National Police officials, Standefer is listed as one of the most wanted criminals in the Philippines for his alleged role in a series of crimes in the country.

Officer Mario A. Garcia of the Philippines' National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) had earlier hailed the work of the Indonesian police officers in locating and apprehending the suspect.

According to Garcia, the American is suspected to have defrauded a number of people who invested their money in Standefer's business of exploring for artifacts.

"The NBI has charged him for allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl in Mindanao in 1994. He is also believed to have blasted a mountain here," Garcia had said.

Standefer, he said, had allegedly been behind the 1995 illegal blasting at Mount Parker, also in Mindanao, which killed nearly 100 people, in one of his efforts to trace local treasures. (ylt/bby)