HollyMatkinBlair, NE – A man who was sentenced to nine years in prison in the United Kingdom for plotting to rape, decapitate, and eat a 14-year-old girl was arrested in a small Nebraska town on Friday.
Dale Bolinger – an American citizen known as the “Canterbury Cannibal” in England – was convicted in 2014 of attempting to groom a child for sexual purposes, possessing obscene pictures of children, and writing obscene articles, the International Business Times reported.
It was unclear why, after serving just three years in prison, the 62-year-old Bolinger was deported to the United States, but he registered as a sexual offender in Blair on Jan. 4, the Omaha World-Herald reported.
Bolinger planned to stay with a friend until he established his own residence, The Sun reported.
“We’re just as frustrated as everybody else,” Washington County Sheriff Mike Robinson told the Omaha World-Herald, regarding Bolinger’s sudden arrival.
The former UK National Health Service nurse was taken to the Washington County Jail on Friday, but had not been charged with a crime as of Monday, Sheriff Robinson said.
“He’s here, but I cannot tell you why,” Sheriff Robinson told the Omaha World-Herald. “Legally, I cannot say anything.”
“He is at the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and he’s never going to come back here,” someone at the home where Bolinger was staying told The Sun. “He won’t be staying here again.”
According to the Daily Mirror, Bolinger was kicked out of the home after his friend learned about the severity of his crimes.
“I didn’t want to be caught up in the maelstrom,” the homeowner said. “He was only here a couple of days to get back on his feet. He’s now dealing with the police about where he can stay.”
Bolinger’s cannibalistic fantasies came to light during the 2013 trial of New York City Police Officer Gilberto Valle, who also plotted to kidnap, kill, and eat women, the Omaha World-Herald reported.
Investigators alerted British police when they discovered that Valle and Bolinger communicated their murderous plots and fantasies to one another.
According to the International Business Times, Bolinger had an online profile, where he listed his interests as “cannibalism, mainly hunting and preparation of young but sometimes not so young women.”
Using the pseudonym “Meatmarketman,” Bolinger began communicating with a 14-year-old named Eva on the Dark Fetish Network website, The Sun reported. He told her about his fantasies, and even sent her a photo of him holding an ax he purchased.
According to The Sun, Eva was aware and in agreement with Bolinger’s plan to murder her.
Although the girl never arrived for her scheduled meeting with Bolinger, their online messages were recovered by the FBI, and helped lead to him being charged.
Eva was actually an FBI agent, according to Kent Live.
Bolinger later confessed that he had fantasized about cannibalism since the age of six. He also digitally altered pornographic images of girls to create images that showed them in ovens and being served on platters, The Sun reported.
During his trial, jurors learned that Bolinger discussed eating children, and cooking and eating a pregnant woman, with other users on the Dark Fetish Network site, the International Business Times reported.
Following his trial, Judge Adele Williams told the jury that because the case was so “distasteful,” they would never have to serve on a jury again, Kent Online reported.
One of his other victims, Urlene King, said she was shocked to learn that Bolinger had been released from prison in England, the Daily Mirror reported.
The mother-of-four said that she had considered Bolinger to be her friend before he tried to suffocate her with a rag soaked in cleaning fluid in 2010 – a crime he later admitted to.
King was able to escape Bolinger’s South London home, but said she feared she “could have ended up as his dinner.”
“I’m completely dumbfounded,” she said. “How is he out already? I hope to god he doesn’t come back round here.”
Additional details regarding Bolinger’s most recent arrest were expected in coming days, KETV reported.