News

Actions

Suspect in child sex assault case out of Chicago arrested by U.S. Marshals in SLC

Posted at 9:22 PM, Mar 29, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-29 23:22:56-04

SALT LAKE CITY -- The U.S. Marshals made a huge fugitive capture on the edges of Salt Lake City Wednesday night.

They busted a man wanted in Illinois for violent sexual charges against a child.

The man has allegedly been living in Salt Lake City for several months, according to the U.S. Marshals and neighbors.

On a tiny street just off 4800 West, just south of 1100 South, authorities swarmed the area where they'd been watching Ivan Faunce for hours Wednesday evening.

"Terrified me to see eight vehicles come flying down thirty, forty miles [an hour] down my driveway," said Tracy Shepherd, who lives just a couple houses away.

He watched the scene unfold, as U.S. Marshals arrested the man Shepherd had, up until now, called his neighbor.

Shepherd said he buys hay from Faunce.

"Me and my kid have walked down there numerous times," he said.

Little did Shepherd know that this entire time, Faunce was a wanted fugitive on the run from U.S. Marshals in Chicago.

Derryl Spencer, Supervisory Deputy for the U.S. Marshals Service in Salt Lake City, said Faunce's charges include aggravated sexual abuse of a child.

"Investigating U.S. Marshals have been working on this night and day for months," he said of Faunce's case and tracking down his whereabouts.

The U.S. Marshals in Illinois got wind Faunce may have been living in Salt Lake City, and reached out to Spencer's crew on Wednesday morning.

He said they immediately dropped everything they were doing to focus on this case, because of the severity of the charges.

The U.S. Marshals quickly tracked Faunce down to a farm. Spencer said the LDS Church owns the farm but leases it out. Officers watched Faunce's every move for six hours.

Finally, they pounced.

"He ended up fleeing to the RV, barricaded in there," Spencer said. "He continued to tell us he had gun in his mouth, and not to make a move."

An hour later, he said Faunce gave up and peacefully surrendered.

For that, Shepherd was relieved.

"[Faunce] was telling me he was leaving for California on Monday," Shepherd said. "So I'm grateful the police were able to catch him and get that type of person off of the street."