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MANILA, Philippines — A Filipino-American linked to a sexual assault case in San Francisco in the United States is now in police custody after he turned himself in last weekend.

Online news site Asian Journal reported Thursday that for two weeks, police failed to find Horacio Candia Jr, who was wanted for an incident last Aug. 22.

Candia, 38, a former firefighter, was accused of sexually assaulting a woman near 16th Street and Carolina in the Potrero District in San Francisco on Aug. 22. The victim managed to escape from the suspect’s vehicle and called the police.

The report said Candia was terminated from the San Francisco Fire Department firefighter in 2000 for refusing a drug test.

Police alleged that Candia shows his badge to facilitate his encounters with women, then sexually assaults them, using physical violence.

“He lured a woman into a false sense of security. He said, ‘I’m a firefighter, everybody loves us, you can trust me,’” police Inspector Elaine Economus said to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Candia is charged with three counts of forced oral copulation, one count of sexual battery, one count of making terrorist threats, and one count of false imprisonment. - GMANews.TV