COLVILLE, Wash. — A man was arrested after he spent over a decade on the run due to child rape allegations.
In June 2009, detectives with the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) received information that Robert Jennings Vandivier had impregnated a 14-year-old girl. SCSO said the victim gave birth to the child later that year, where detectives waited for DNA lab results.
An arrest warrant was issued for Vandivier’s arrest in 2012, but SCSO said he had vanished.
In June 2024, the SCSO Proactive Anti-Narcotics Enforcement (PANE) task force, the Stevens County Prosecutors Office, the United States Border Patrol and the United States Marshals Service developed a strategy to locate Vandivier.
On July 2, the United States Marshals Service found Vanfiver in Mesa, where he was arrested on his outstanding warrant of rape of a child in the third degree and evading law enforcement for 11 years and seven months.
“I cannot express enough how much I appreciate the effort and successful location of Robert Vandivier by the US Marshals. This is a case in which the allegations are of a 14-year-old child becoming pregnant, charged by this office in 2012… I look forward to the opportunity to finally seek justice for these crimes,” Prosecuting Attorney, Ericka George, said.
