Puerto Rico wants to deport preacher who molested hundreds of boys

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO - A tent-revival preacher who served 11 years in prison for molesting hundreds of young boys has been ordered to leave Puerto Rico. <br> <br> Mario ``Tony&#39;&#39; Leyva, who was paroled from a Virginia prison in April, must leave the U.S. territory within 72 hours or he could be arrested, the secretary of Puerto Rico&#39;s Department of Correction and Rehabilitation, Victor Rivera Gonzalez, said Tuesday. <br> <br> Rivera Gonzalez said federal authorities were in the process of canceling a temporary permit allowing Leyva to stay in Puerto Rico for 90 days. <br> <br> ``I have no guarantees that this person is totally rehabilitated, and I am not going to risk a single boy or girl in this territory,&#39;&#39; he told the newspaper Primera Hora. <br> <br> Leyva, 55, was released on parole in April after serving 11 years of a 20-year sentence for running a child prostitution ring. <br> <br> He arrived in Puerto Rico on Oct. 14 after he served five months of his parole in Roanoke, Va. He proclaimed his innocence Tuesday, telling a radio station that the charges were ``a fabrication of the government.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Leyva pleaded guilty in federal court in Roanoke, Virginia, in 1988 to charges that he and two associates conspired to molest youngsters in North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Ohio and Indiana. <br> <br> In Virginia, probation officer Mike Price said the federal probation office in Puerto Rico had agreed to supervise Leyva&#39;s parole because he had an established home and had stayed out of trouble since his release. <br> <br> Price said it was unclear whether Puerto Rico had legal authority to send Leyva back, or where the convicted molester would go if he leaves the territory. <br> <br> His wife Sherry Lynne, who moved to a middle-class suburb of San Juan four months ago, urged authorities to let her husband ``live in peace,&#39;&#39; according to Primera Hora. <br> <br> No one answered Leyva&#39;s door at their apartment in a two-story building on Tuesday, though people inside could be heard quieting a barking dog. <br> <br> ``I&#39;m a bit worried. They should investigate him,&#39;&#39; said neighbor Leticia Thallet, a 52-year-old neighbor who has two young girls. <br> <br> ``We greeted them. We didn&#39;t suspect anything abnormal,&#39;&#39; said another neighbor, Efrain Vargas, 72. ``Luckily I don&#39;t have children. They&#39;re all grown up.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Rivera Gonzalez said Puerto Rico would revise its procedures for the transfer of released convicts to prohibit entry to convicted child abusers.