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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
FOR INFORMATION CONTACT: |
August 18, 2008 |
United States Marshal
Warren Anderson District of South Dakota
(605) 330-4351 |
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America’s Most Wanted Convicted Sex Offender from
Texas Arrested in South Dakota |
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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
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