For Immediate Release

Austin, TX - John Everett Fitch, III, 43 of rural Hays County was apprehended last night at a local motel in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico at approximately 10:00 p.m., by the Tamaulipas Ministry of Public Safety and quickly turned over to Mexican Immigration authorities. Judicial authorities in Nuevo Laredo determined that Fitch had no legal status to remain in Mexico and was expelled shortly after midnight at the Port of Entry to the welcoming handcuffs of the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force in Laredo, Texas. Fitch was charged with failing to appear last month after he fled from his own jury trial in San Marcos, Texas. Fitch was charged with Indecency with a Child.

Investigators identified several persons of interest likely to have assisted in Fitch's flight from Hays County. Last night, task force officers surveilled a vehicle to the Texas-Mexico border in Laredo and transitioned the surveillance to awaiting members of the fugitive task force in Laredo and their international law enforcement partners across the border. Mexican law enforcement officers were able to confirm a motel Fitch was renting and subsequently identified Fitch. He was detained and transferred to Mexican immigration authorities.

Fitch was remanded to the Webb County Detention Center earlier this morning pending his return to Hays County to face the punishment phase of his criminal trial.

Robert R. Almonte, United States Marshal for the Western District of Texas states, "The Lone Star Fugitive Task Force will continue to work with our international law enforcement partners to pursue fugitives who victimize our children."

Members of the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force in Austin:

• Austin Police Department, Intelligence Unit
• Travis, Williamson, Hays, Caldwell, Bastrop County Sheriff's Office
• Texas Department of Public Safety
• Texas Department of Criminal Justice-Office of Inspector General
• U.S. Marshals Service

Additional information about the U.S. Marshals can be found at http://www.usmarshals.gov.

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