Dr William Porter (53) presented himself to the gardai in Killarney, Co Kerry, shortly after noon yesterday following an abortive attempt to detain him in Tralee late on Thursday.
The eye surgeon, who has been pursued by the FBI and by Santa Barbara County District Attorney's Office for the last five years for a $1.5 million claim for unpaid maintenance and child support, has been in Ireland for the past year and has taken out Irish citizenship.
Earlier this week, he was due to appear before the circuit court in Loughrea, Co Galway, but failed to attend. An order for his arrest was issued on Thursday by Judge Harvey Kenny.
Dr Porter's legal representative says the surgeon had sought medical help for a suspected heart attack in Tralee, and was diagnosed as having gall stones. He and his second wife, Mrs Margaret Ayer Porter, booked into a hotel, where they were identified and the gardai were informed. However, it is understood that the couple left the premises before the arrest was made.
Dr William Porter has been pursued on felony and abandonment charges by the Santa Barbara County District Attorney in California since 1993, according to Special Investigator Laura Cleaves, who attended Loughrea circuit court as a witness on Thursday.
The case is the first to be heard under a new reciprocal agreement between Ireland and the US for the recovery of maintenance payments, announced by the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, last month.
The Santa Barbara authorities have traced the surgeon across several countries, including Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and New Zealand, since he ceased paying maintenance to his wife and four children in 1993.
He and his first wife, Gretchen, were divorced nine years ago and Dr Porter married his office manager, Ms Margaret Ayer, who has an Irish grandmother. Under the terms of the no-fault divorce, maintenance payments were set down at $4,800 a month. These payments rose to $11,000 monthly in 1994, by which time the surgeon had filed for bankruptcy. It is understood he has since argued he is penniless.
Investigator Cleaves says there is sufficient evidence to prove that Dr Porter could have continued to make his payments. He had worked in Saudi Arabia for four years after leaving the US, during which time the US authorities had no legal agreement to pursue him, she said. His medical licence was revoked after he left California.
The last full maintenance payment to his family was made by the surgeon in 1990, according to Ms Cleaves, and nine small payments were made thereafter until August 1993. His former wife, who was forced to move in with her parents, bore no ill will towards her husband and simply wanted him to resume a relationship with his children, who ranged in age from 14 to two when he left.
According to Investigator Cleaves, Dr Porter wrote letters to his children several years ago in which he said they should no longer consider him as their father and expressed the wish that they would find a new "role model".
Dr Porter cannot be extradited to the US to face the criminal charges awaiting him there, but the Californian authorities requested the Irish court to enforce the order issued by them. His US passport has been revoked, and the FBI is also pursuing him for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
