A child rapist is back in custody after a month on the run, authorities said.
Sean Christopher Williams, 52, allegedly made a pivotal mistake when he walked into a Florida 7/11 for a hot dog. The gas station clerk, Tasha Baumgartner, said she recognized the tattoo from his wanted poster.
“I just felt weird about it, so I rang him up. He bought a hot dog,” she told News Nation. And then I went outside, and I followed sort of around the corner to see where he was going. And he disappeared. … I called the police and told them. He was in my store. I know he was.”
The #FBI is seeking the public’s help in locating Sean Williams, wanted for escaping custody in TN. Williams was last seen today in Pinellas County, FL. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call 911. More details here: https://t.co/TgICdfNK2c @USMarshalsHQ pic.twitter.com/MjLhvtlWuh
— FBI Tampa (@FBI Tampa) Nov. 21, 2023
Sean Christopher Williams after his arrest on Nov. 21, 2023, in Pinellas County, Florida. (Image: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation)
The FBI’s field office in Knoxville, Tennessee, said that authorities in Pinellas County, Florida, arrested Williams when a K-9 officer and his partner tracked him down.
Authorities were already closing in on him. The FBI previously said he was spotted in the county that same day. He allegedly had abandoned a stolen car and his possessions when law enforcement saw him, according to WXMI.
Williams faces Tennessee state charges of rape of a child, especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor and aggravated sexual battery.
He also faces child sexual exploitation and firearms charges in federal court. Authorities had locked him up in Kentucky after a separate escape attempt in Washington County, Tennessee. Jump to Oct. 18. He was riding in a transport van to the federal courthouse in Greeneville, Tennessee.
Authorities said the camera wasn’t working in the vehicle and he absconded through a broken back window, according to WXMI. The FBI said he was several blocks from the courthouse when he asked to borrow someone’s phone.
Williams stole a car in the city, U.S. Marshal David Jolley told WXMI.
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