Arrest warrant issued in U.S. for Shawn Brown

Arrest warrant issued in U.S. for Shawn Brown
--- over kidnapping of U.S. diplomat

Guyana Chronicle
June 4, 2003

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A U.S. District Court judge yesterday issued a warrant for the arrest of wanted prison escapee Shawn Brown in connection with the kidnapping of an American diplomat here in April.

The judge issued the warrant after the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) implicated Brown in the abduction of diplomat Stephen Lesniak following a probe by FBI agents here in April.

Kidnapping in U.S. law is a federal offense.

Sources in Georgetown said last night that the warrant by the U.S. judge will be dispatched to local law enforcement agencies, which will then submit the documentation to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for the possible processing of extradition proceedings to have Brown taken back to the U.S. to face trial for kidnapping.

Mr. Lesniak, Regional Security Officer in the U.S. Embassy, was abducted on Saturday, April 12, as he played golf at Lusignan.

He was held at a church in Buxton US$300,000 demanded for his release.

Brown is one of the two surviving of five prisoners who broke out of jail on Mash Day last year - stabbing one prison officer to death and shooting and critically injuring a female prison warder in their bloody escape.