LOS ANGELES – Less than 24 hours of placing Walter Lee Williams on the Ten Most Wanted List, FBI officials announced his capture.
The former University of Southern California professor Williams was wanted for allegedly committing sex crimes in the Philippines.
The FBI captured the 64-year-old Williams on June 19, at the resort town of Playa del Carmen in Mexico, FBI officials said in a statement.
“The FBI received information about a possible location for Williams within Mexico and, through the FBI’s legal attache in Mexico City, requested assistance from Mexican authorities to locate and apprehend Williams,” said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller.
“With respect to our Mexican partners and necessary legal arrangements being made to return Williams to US custody, no further details are being made available at this time,” Eimiller said.
Williams is a former tenured professor at USC where he taught anthropology and gender studies. He’s also affiliated with the Buddhist Universal Association.
The 64-year-old is wanted for allegedly sexually exploiting children, traveling abroad to engage in sex acts with minors, and engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places, officials said.
FBI officials said it had identified 10 victims between ages 9 and 17. Williams is believed to have used his status as a professor and academic research as a guise to prey on young boys across Southeast Asia.
The indictment alleges Williams traveled from Los Angeles to the Philippines in January 2011 to engage in sex acts with two 14-year-old boys he met online in 2010.
Williams allegedly had been in contact with the two boys “engaging in sexual activity via Internet webcam sessions,” the indictment said.
FBI officials said Williams traveled to the Philippines and allegedly engaged in sex acts with both boys and produced sexually explicit photos of one of the teenagers.
Williams fled Los Angeles after returning from the Philippines, FBI officials said.
“Because of his status, he has the means and access to children – and that’s what makes him dangerous,” said FBI case agent Jeff Yesensky on an FBI podcast.
“He preys on the most vulnerable children” Yesensky added.
Williams was the 500th person named on the infamous list, FBI officials said.
FBI officials said that with the help of the public, of the 500 people named to the Top Ten Most Wanted list over its 63 years, 469 have been apprehended or located. Williams will be the 470th criminal on the list caught by the FBI.
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Weekend June 22-25, 2013 Sec A pg.1)
