Arkansas fugitive arrested in Troy
The Western News | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 14 years, 1 month AGO
A man who fled Arkansas last summer
after posting bond for child rape charges was arrested without
incident from his Troy residence last week, according to Chief of
Police Bob McLeod.
Steven Carl Williams, 52, of
Bentonville, Ark., made his home in Troy for a period of what
McLeod guesses was about six months before Arkansas authorities
tracked him down and obtained a nationwide warrant for his
arrest.
The fugitive faces charges related to
the alleged rape of three girls – ages 12, 13 and 14 – that
Williams was entrusted with as their “talent coach,” according to
reports from the Benton County (Ark.) Daily Record.
One alleged victim claimed Williams
told her that he had worked with several famous actresses before
they became stars, according to court documents obtained by the
Daily Record.
McLeod suspects that Williams had been
using a false last name while residing in Troy. When Arkansas
authorities inquired about Williams, “the name didn’t ring a bell,”
McLeod said, and it didn’t show up in his computer system.
However, McLeod recognized Williams as
soon as he viewed the man’s mugshot.
Bentonville police arrested Williams in
early 2009 on sexual assault charges. Authorities learned that he
skipped town when he didn’t appear at a hearing last summer less
than a month before his July 27 trial date.
Benton County prosecutors requested
last week that Lincoln County Justice Court set Williams’s bond
higher than the approximately $181,000 that he posted in Arkansas
last year before fleeing the state.
Williams’s bond was set at $350,000 at
his initial appearance in justice court last Thursday. He chose not
to waive his rights to a formal extradition process.
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