New on FBI's Most Wanted: Ex USC Prof

Walter Lee Williams accused of sexually exploiting children
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 18, 2013 8:28 AM CDT
New on FBI's Most Wanted: Ex USC Prof
Walter Lee Williams' wanted poster.   (FBI)

If you took Professor Walter Lee Williams' anthropology class at USC, you might be surprised to learn that as of yesterday he's one of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted fugitives. Williams, 64, became the 500th name added to the list in its 63-year history, the Los Angeles Times reports. The extensive traveler and Fulbright Award winner is accused of sexually exploiting at least 10 children between ages 9 and 17 while abroad. "Because of his status he has the means and access to children, and that's what makes him dangerous," says an FBI agent. Indeed, one website describes Williams' research as focusing on "sexuality in the Southeast Asia/Pacific region."

In one alleged instance, Williams is accused of meeting two 14-year-old Filipino boys online in 2010 and engaging in webcam sex sessions with them, then visiting the Philippines the following year and taking pictures of the "sexually explicit conduct" they engaged in and bringing those photos back to LA. US authorities questioned him, and he fled; there's a $100,000 reward for info that leads to his arrest. The odds may not be in Williams' favor, per this stat from the LAT: Of those 500 people who have been placed on the list, only 31 have not been apprehended or located. (More professor stories.)

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