THE LONE STAR FUGITIVE TASK FORCE ANNOUNCES THE ARREST OF
JUAN RAMON MORALES
Midland/Odessa
– In March of 2003, Juan Morales kidnapped two 5 year old twin
girls in Odessa, Texas and violently sexually assaulted them both.
When the girls were found, they could not give any identifiable
information on their attacker except a basic description. Morales
then kidnapped a 7 year old girl from a church, and was chased and
caught by citizens who turned him over to police. Morales was soon
released on bond for the kidnapping charge, and then police learned
that his DNA matched the attacker of the sexual assault of the
twins. Felony warrants were issued in State court to arrest Morales
for Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child and Aggravated Kidnapping.
The Odessa Police Department requested assistance from the U.S.
Marshals Service in locating and apprehending Morales. Upon adoption
of the fugitive case, it was granted Major Case status, and USMS
Midland (now part of the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force) applied for
and received a federal warrant for Unlawful Flight to Avoid
Prosecution.
USMS investigators learned that Morales had fled to Mexico. When
they were able to determine his location, investigators assisted the
Ector County District Attorney’s office in applying for a
provisional warrant with the Office of International Affairs (OIA).
Mexican authorities located and arrested Morales, and found him to
be in possession of a firearm. He was later convicted of the firearm
charge, and sentenced to serve time in Mexico with the U.S. charges
still pending.
On January, 19, 2007, the government of Mexico extradited 15
individuals to the United States in Houston, Texas, and Morales was
one of them. He will be returned back to Ector County in the next
week to face charges for Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child (2
counts), and Aggravated Kidnapping.
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