Fayetteville fugitive returns to U.S. after arrest in Mexico

Northwest Arkansas sex offender who disappeared from Fayetteville in July was arrested Thursday in Mexico and returned Friday to the United States, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Stephen Morais, 58, was arrested in Zacatecas, Mexico, by Marshals Service and Mexican authorities on federal warrants of violation of the terms of his release and failure to register as a sex offender and on a state warrant out of Fayetteville citing violation of the sex offender registry, a Marshals Service news release said.

Morais was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville in 2011 to 97 months in prison and fined $15,000 after pleading guilty to two counts of receiving child pornography, according to court records.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2012 affirmed the sentence handed out by District Judge Jimm Larry Hendren, including a condition that, if deemed necessary, the federal probation office could require Morais to submit to any means of tracking his location at any time “due to an inability to keep track of the defendant’s whereabouts during supervised release.”

Records did not show whether Morais was wearing a tracking device when he disappeared.

After Morais’ disappearance, authorities developed information that Morais may have left the country, the release said. Because of the federal convictions, the U.S. Marshals Service was asked to assist in locating and arresting Morais.

Fayetteville police and Marshals Service agents in northern Texas, western Arkansas and Mexico worked together to develop and follow leads to find Morais in Mexico.