U.S. Marshals have arrested a former Utah corrections officer who was convicted of forcible sexual abuse in 2007 but fled before he was sentenced.
William F. Lawrence, 41, was arrested Monday at a McDonald’s restaurant in Kauai, Hawaii, according to a news release from the U.S. Marshals Service.
Lawrence was convicted after using his badge in 2006 to intimidate a woman into performing sex acts.
On April 16, 2006, he brought the woman to his apartment and handcuffed her to his bed against her will, court documents state. He threatened to take the woman to jail and call child protection authorities if she didn’t provide him with sexual favors, charges state.
Lawrence was originally charged with forcible sodomy, a first-degree felony, but later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of forcible sexual abuse, a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.
Lawrence had been hired at the Utah Department of Corrections in Draper on June 27, 2005 and was fired April 21, 2006 — one day after the West Jordan Police Department informed the prison of his arrest, according to a Corrections spokesman at the time.
Court records show that once Lawrence had pleaded guilty, he was ordered to get a psychosexual evaluation prior to his sentencing hearing in early 2008, but he never showed up for the hearing.
A $150,000 arrest warrant was issued for Lawrence on April 7, 2008.
The U.S. Marshals Service began working the case in 2010, the news release said, and while revisiting cold cases in October of this year, marshals in Utah’s district discovered that Lawrence had created a fake identity and was living in Hawaii.
On Sunday, two marshals flew to Kauai and the next day arrested Lawrence without incident while he was having lunch.
“As a former law enforcement officer, Lawrence knew the strategies used to track down fugitives,” said Supervisory Deputy United States Marshal Derryl Spencer in the release. “He was able to elude law enforcement for years — until now.”
from The Salt Lake Tribune http://www.sltrib.com/news/2017/11/28/us-marshals-arrest-former-utah-corrections-officer-who-10-years-ago-skipped-sentencing-on-forcible-sexual-charge
Shawn Miller 