FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR INFORMATION CONTACT: August 18, 2008 United States Marshal Warren Anderson District of South Dakota (605) 330-4351   America’s Most Wanted Convicted Sex Offender from Texas Arrested in South Dakota   Deputy Marshals from South Dakota, Northern Iowa and Eastern Texas, along with Minnehaha County and Lincoln County sheriffs’ deputies from the Sioux Falls Area Violent Offenders Task Force, arrested a Texas man on August 14th in Tea, SD after an intensive manhunt since July 25. At about 8 a.m., Preston Dwayne Hightower, 38 of Sherman, TX was arrested on a U S Marshals warrant out of Eastern Texas for Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution and immediately turned over to the state warrant out of Sherman TX for absconding from a 60-year sentence on three counts of Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child. Hightower was found in Tea, SD working for a local contractor on a roofing job. Although it was believed that the fugitive would attempt to resist arrest and flee, he was arrested without incident. He was lodged in the Minnehaha County Jail, and was extradited back to Texas on August 20th. A few weeks earlier, Hightower had been convicted in Texas on three counts of sexually abusing two children, a girl and a boy. While the jury was deliberating a sentence after handing the guilty verdict, Hightower stepped out for a cigarette and never returned to the Grayson County Courthouse. He was then sentenced in absentia to three 20-year prison terms. Hightower’s case was referred to the local fugitive task force by the U.S. Marshals East Texas Fugitive Task Force. It is believed that Hightower was aided in his flight by friends and family. Four people in Texas have been charged with hindering apprehension, including his mother, sister, nephew and ex-girlfriend, and more will likely follow. Hightower’s case became one of America’s Most Wanted, and prior to the arrest was scheduled to be aired on the Fox network on August 16, 2008. http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=58151