“Washington’s Most Wanted” child molester apprehended

Nisqually Corrections officers got suspicious after observing the man during online hearing

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 After two months of being on the state’s “Most Wanted” list, convicted child molester William Fugitt was apprehended following careful observation by the Nisqually Corrections officers.

Fugitt was initially arrested in Lakewood for criminal trespass. Brought to Nisqually Corrections on Aug. 25, he told officers his name was Edward Villan.

False identity

The man appeared on a court video from the corrections facility as Villan. The charges for which he was being held would likely have enabled the court to release him subject to future court appearances.

During the hearing, Nisqually Corrections officers became suspicious of his behavior. When he was brought to the jail “he was a little aggressive toward us,” Nisqually Corrections Corporal Mark Upton told The JOLT. “He told us he would fight the people” in that part of the jail “if we put him in there, to force us into putting him into a [private] cell,” Upton explained.

Nisqually Officer Bailey accompanied Fugitt to his court hearing and noted that Fugitt told the judge he was a Buddhist. That seemed odd to Bailey. “Given that the court had no records of him under the name of Villan he [Bailey] wanted to look into his background further,” Upton said.

The officers decided to run Fugitt’s fingerprints. The results revealed his real name and that the suspect held an outstanding warrant from the Washington Department of Corrections for child rape probation violations.

A further Google search also showed that Fugitt was listed as one of “Washington’s Most Wanted” for an assault charge which violated his probation.

With Fugitt being a word so closely related to “fugitive” and Villan being one letter different from “villain” police verified the man’s identification.  “He does have multiple aliases that have been identified by the [Washington] Department of Corrections. All the aliases were small variations from his real name, which is Fugitt,” Upton said.

Officers then confronted the prisoner. After being presented with fingerprints and the photo from Q13, and being told “this looks exactly like your booking photo”  Fugitt still said “that’s not me.”

Prior charges

Fugitt has a long criminal history. In 1986, he pleaded guilty to indecent liberties after he had repeatedly assaulted, choked, and threatened a little girl for eight years. The assaults began when the victim was just seven years old.

Later, in 1991, Fugitt was again convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison for molesting two little girls. He was then classified as a Level 3 offender, which means that he is most likely to re-offend.

A few months ago, new charges were brought in after Fugitt held a knife to a man’s throat and demanded the victim to give him money to go to a liquor store.

Fugitt is serving time at the Nisqually Jail for his Department of Corrections probation violations. He will then be taken to Pierce County to face his assault charges.

In a statement, Upton shared, “Dedication to the profession and the big picture of criminal justice is a key part of what makes our facility successful.” He also praised the officers’ good work, “These officers kept a dangerous person from being released to the streets.”  

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