Teamwork Puts Fugitives Away

We formed a Fugitive Unit within the Criminal Investigations Division of the Office of the Attorney General. The Unit has been given the specific mission of locating and arresting those 187 Parole Absconders. I am happy to say that, a year and a half later, we have made 168 arrests.

Our success has been possible because of an extraordinary degree of cooperation between state and local law enforcement authorities. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice provided us with the names, pictures, and identifying information we needed to launch the search for fugitive child sex offenders.

Local police departments and sheriff’s offices have been an indispensable part of the effort. Federal and even international authorities have joined in the cause. Two arrests we just recently made, in January 2005, illustrate perfectly the kind of teamwork involved in law enforcement at its best.

In 1996 in Lamar County, Orson Keith Lane was convicted of Indecency With a Child by Sexual Contact and sentenced to 10 years in prison. The victim was an eight-year-old girl. Lane had been wanted on a Texas Parole Violation Warrant since April 2nd, 2003. Additionally, Lane had an outstanding felony warrant from June 18th, 2003, out of Lamar County for Failure To Register as a Sex Offender .

In February of 2004, Texas Attorney General Fugitive Unit personnel conducted a field investigation in Paris, Texas. Fugitive Unit investigators learned that Lane may have fled to El Paso with his common law wife.

In March of 2004, Fugitive Unit investigators interviewed associates of Orson Lane and discovered that he may have moved to Juarez, Mexico. Fugitive Unit investigators contacted the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office and requested assistance in locating and arresting Lane.

On January 10th, 2005, El Paso County Sheriff's Office investigators met with Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents and Mexican Judicial authorities. Orson Lane was located by the Mexican Judicial Police and turned over to United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents at the Paso del Norte Bridge. El Paso County Sheriff’s Office investigators arrived and once cleared by federal authorities, arrested and took custody of Lane for his outstanding parole violation warrant. He was then transported to the El Paso County Jail.

In the Lane case, Fugitive Unit investigators worked with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and Mexican judicial authorities. In another recent case, we got a crucial assist from law enforcement in another state.

In 1989 in Collin County, Ricardo Hernandez was convicted of Indecency With a Child by Sexual Contact and sentenced to five years in prison. The victim was a seven-year-old girl. Hernandez had been a fugitive since February 23rd, 1993.

Fugitive Unit investigators located Hernandez after matching his fingerprints with those of a fictitious name that he was using in Phoenix. The Fugitive Unit contacted the Phoenix Police Department to confirm Hernandez’s identity, and then worked with Phoenix investigators to arrest him at his residence on January 11, 2005. He is currently awaiting extradition from the Maricopa County (Arizona) Jail to Texas. Hernandez had been on parole as part of a five-year sentence. He is also wanted by U.S. immigration officials on unrelated charges.

In January of 2004, Texas Attorney General Fugitive Unit investigators developed a lead through extensive database research. They discovered that Hernandez was married to a woman reportedly residing in Frisco, Texas. Additional research revealed that the wife had a current residential address in Phoenix, Arizona.

Investigators also found that a subject by the name of Ricardo Mora-Perez kept coming up in association with that same woman. The Arizona DPS Driver’s License Office provided a photograph of Ricardo Mora-Perez. Fugitive Unit investigators compared the Arizona photographs of Ricardo Mora-Perez to the Texas photograph of Ricardo Hernandez. They appeared to be one and the same person.

Our investigators then contacted the Phoenix Police Department and requested that they check their intelligence databases for arrest information on Ricardo Mora-Perez. Results showed a 1995 DUI arrest. Fingerprints were obtained, and the prints of Ricardo Hernandez were compared to those of Ricardo Mora-Perez. OAG fingerprint experts determined that Ricardo Hernandez and Ricardo Mora-Perez were in fact the same person.

On January 11th, 2005, Texas Attorney General Fugitive Unit personnel traveled to Arizona and with the assistance of Phoenix Police Department personnel, located and arrested Ricardo Hernandez at a new residential address. Hernandez was then transported to the Maricopa County Jail and booked on the outstanding Texas Parole Violation Warrant.

I am deeply grateful to the many law enforcement agencies who helped find these child sexual predators and put them back behind bars, and I am proud of our own Fugitive Unit. Child sex offenders who violate their parole pose a serious threat to other children and the general public, and we must work tirelessly to get these dangerous individuals off the streets again.

Greg Abbott
Attorney General of Texas