Downstate Tarot Card Reader Arrested in Nepal, Charged With Pedophilia: Report

A Downstate tarot card reader was arrested at a Nepal hotel, and five children were rescued from his “clutches,” The Himalayan Times has reported.

Joseph Coombs, 48, was taken into custody along with his 21-year-old partner-in-crime, Buddha Putawar, according to the Times.

Coombs used Putawar, “aka Lucche, a resident of Swayambhu of Kathmandu — to lure children into temptation of money and bring them to the Thamel-based hotel, where the suspected paedophile would prey on them,” according to the Times, which called Thamel “one of the most happening tourist hubs in Kathmandu.”

Nepal police reportedly claimed Coombs is a “serial paedophile and had been visiting Nepal regularly.”

Coombs’ Facebook page shows him hanging out with an awful lot of kids, and also with his arm around “Buddhaa Ptwr.”

Coombs’ Facebook page says he he grew up and lives in Downstate Collinsville, that he studied chemistry at Southern Illinois University and that he works as a chemist. But a profile on the website Psychic World says he is also a “professional tarot card reader with over 30 years experience,” and that he authored two books and a pair of mobile apps.

The website Sex Offender Archive says Coombs was previously convicted of criminal sexual assault in Missouri.

Court records show he pleaded guilty to deviate sexual assault in 1994 and was sentenced to five years in prison. In 2013, he was arrested in St. Louis and later pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual misconduct.

Coombs is not listed on the Missouri sex offender registry.

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