Man on FBI's Top 10 Most Wanted List Arrested in Mexico

Former USC professor Walter Lee Williams was arrested in Mexico tuesday night, one day after being added to the FBI's list of its Ten Most Wanted fugitives, the FBI announced.

The FBI received information about a possible location for Williams within Mexico. Through the FBI's legal attache in Mexico City, the FBI requested assistance from Mexican legal authorities to locate and apprehend Williams, according to Laura Eimiller of the FBI.

Legal arrangements are being made to return Williams to U.S. custody, Eimiller said. Additional details about Williams' arrest are expected to be released Wednesday, Eimiller said.

Williams was arrested by Mexican authorities in the resort city of Playa del Carmen, according to broadcast reports.

Williams, 64, was charged in an indictment filed in Los Angeles federal court, alleging one count of producing child pornography, one count of traveling for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor and two counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places.

Williams, formerly of Palm Springs, was a professor of gender and sexuality studies at USC until 2011, an FBI spokeswoman said.

Under the guise of academic research, Williams traveled in the Philippines and elsewhere in Southeast Asia to have sex with underage boys, according to the FBI. The bureau said it has identified 10 victims between ages 9 and 17.

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.

Prior to his travel, Williams allegedly engaged in sexual activity via Internet webcam sessions with these boys and expressed a desire to visit them in the Philippines to have sex. While in the Philippines, he allegedly engaged in sex acts with both boys and produced sexually explicit photos of one of the boys.

Williams fled Los Angeles about a week after returning from the Philippines.

The FBI offered a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading directly to his arrest and conviction.

- City News Service