Ex-USC Professor On FBI Most Wanted List Caught In Mexico
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A former USC professor listed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List was arrested in Mexico Tuesday evening, according to authorities.
Walter Lee Williams, 64, is charged with sexual exploitation of children, travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places, and criminal forfeiture, according to the FBI.
He was apprehended near in Playa del Carmen after authorities received information about his possible location. Additional details about his arrest were not released.
Williams taught anthropology, history and gender studies at USC until 2011, according to a FBI spokeswoman.
Authorities said a tip from an adult student prompted a joint investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department and the FBI that found Williams used his academic research as a guise to target primarily underage boys in the Philippines, Indonesia, Polynesia and Thailand.
A federal arrest warrant was issued for him on April 30.
According to the indictment, Williams allegedly interacted with two 14-year-old boys via Internet in 2010 and engaged in sexual activity via webcam with them.
He allegedly traveled to the Philippines in 2011 and is accused of engaging in sex acts with both boys and producing child pornography involving one of the victims.
The FBI said it has identified 10 victims of the former professor, ranging in age from 9-years-old to 17-years-old.
Williams disappeared after he was interviewed by the Los Angeles Police Department in 2011.
(©2013 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
