Utah fugitive arrested in California

ROOSEVELT — A Utah fugitive facing state and federal charges related to the alleged sexual abuse of a 7-year-old girl has been arrested in California.

Authorities took Bill Dwayne Dulen, 41, into custody Tuesday morning in Albany, Calif., following a traffic stop.

According to a copy of the police report obtained by the Deseret News, Dulen was pulled over after an Albany City police officer spotted him driving and talking on his cell phone, which is illegal in California.

Dulen provided two false names, the officer wrote in his report, and did not have a driver's license. The officer noted that Dulen's hands "began to shake as if he was nervous" during the stop.

Dulen's true identity was learned after he was fingerprinted at the Alameda County Jail. He is being held in the jail for investigation of driving without a license and providing false information to police, in addition to federal and state warrants out of Utah.

The Roosevelt man has been on the run since Jan. 5, when his wife confronted him in a phone call with allegations of child sex abuse after she found a note from the alleged victim to her husband in the couple's home. Dulen's abandoned truck was found in a remote area of Uintah County two days after the confrontation with his wife.

Several searches of the area turned up footprints leaving the vehicle's passenger side and walking back to another set of tire tracks. There were no other footprints in the freshly fallen snow.

Shortly after his disappearance, the Duchesne County Attorney's Office charged Dulen with two counts of aggravated sex abuse of a child. The U.S. Attorney's Office for Utah also obtained a federal grand jury indictment against Dulen, charging him with producing child pornography and possessing it on a computer seized from his home.

Roosevelt Police Lt. Ben Lemmon said Dulen's arrest came just days before authorities were to finalize plans to have him featured on the television show "America's Most Wanted." The lieutenant said he expects Dulen to be returned to Utah before the end of the month.

If convicted, Dulen faces a mandatory prison sentence of six, 10 or 15 years to life for each state charge, and up to 10 years in prison for each federal charge.

E-mail: geoff@ubstandard.com