Fugitive on run for three years for alleged sexual assault arrested in Cheney

A fugitive on the run for three years after being accused of sexual assault in Arkansas was living in Cheney and arrested there Thursday, the U.S. Marshals Service said .

The U.S. Marshals Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force, Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, Cheney Police Department and Idaho Fish and Game arrested Walter Roy Sexton at about 11 a.m. at his residence near Third Street in Cheney, according to a U.S. Marshals Service news release.

Fish and Game became aware that Sexton had an arrest warrant for second-degree sexual assault from the Faulkner County Circuit Court in Arkansas, the Marshals Service said. Fish and Game officers collaborated with the Marshals Service to apprehend Sexton.

The task force developed intelligence that Sexton was hiding inside the residence and arrested him without incident.

Sexton, a convicted felon, is alleged to have been hiding from law enforcement for more than three years. Sexton is accused of molesting multiple people and left Conway, Arkansas, when he became aware that law enforcement was investigating him for sexual assault, law enforcement said.

“While we are not the only victims, we, along with our families, would like to thank the U.S. Marshals for bringing us closure,” a mother of one of the victims said in the release. “This has been a 3½-year ordeal. We want all victims out there to know, ‘Never give up.’ ”