After evading law enforcement for 17 years, a convicted sex offender was taken back into custody in Las Vegas, having been discovered hiding out in Mexico. The individual, identified as Robert Sturgiss, was apprehended in Rosarito, a coastal town just south of Tijuana, on December 13 based on the work of Mexican immigration officials, detailed the U.S. Marshals Service in a statement. Sturgiss, who had been on the run to avoid the ramifications of a parole violation, was booked into the Clark County Detention Center last Friday, with records spelling his last name as Sturgess.
Sturgiss originally received a conviction for engaging in illegal sexual contact with a 13-year-old in 1991, for which he was sentenced to five years to life in prison. Granted parole in May 2005, he quickly chose to quietly abscond from supervision two years later, setting off a game of cat and mouse that would span well over a decade. As a culmination of a collective effort from various law enforcement agencies across both the United States and Mexico, the long-standing fugitive investigation would finally manage to locate him.
The U.S. Marshals Service in their news release emphasized the broad reach and persistence of law enforcement, stating, "This arrest reflects our commitment to protecting victims and removing dangerous individuals through strong collaboration across the state," as per a statement given to News3LV. Such a joint effort underscores the extensive networking and resource sharing necessary to successfully extradite individuals who flee international borders.
Following his apprehension in Mexico, Sturgiss was handed over quickly to the U.S. Marshals Service at the San Diego border. Officers from Nevada's Division of Parole and Probation then were responsible to securely transporting him back to Las Vegas. As noted by the U.S. Marshals Service, at his initial sentencing Sturgiss was "deemed a present and future danger to those in the community," an assessment which ultimately propelled the extensive pursuit to bring him back into custody, reported the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
