Suspected child rapist arrested after 28 years

A Carson City man is in custody this morning suspected of child rapes in Canada, Colorado and Las Vegas in the 1970s.

Wilbur Ventling, 62, was arrested by U.S. Marshals in conjunction with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Carson City Sheriff's Department, according to a press release from the U.S. Marshal's Service.

Ventling, also known as John James Stewart, was arrested Tuesday for the May 1979 rape of a 9-year-old girl in British Columbia, Canada.

In addition to the 1979 rape, Ventling is also suspected of commiting a total of 10 similar offenses in the Calgary, Alberta, Canada area between July 1978 and July 1979. The victim's ages ranged from 5 to 13 years old.

"Ventling's 28 years of evading justice ended at approximately 1 p.m. on Tuesday. A U.S. Marshals Service led team arrested Ventling at his home in Carson City where he had been living as a registered sex offender in the state of Nevada. Ventling is being held in the Washoe County Nevada jail on the charge of Fugitive from a Foreign Country to the United States. Extradition proceedings are pending for his removal to Canada to face charges of Rape and Causing Bodily Harm With Intent to Wound," the news release states.

Ventling lived on August Drive in East Carson City.