U.S. fugitive sex offender sent back to Idaho

He is one more in a growing list of U.S. criminals who flee to Belize but find out that Uncle Sam has long arms and good friends in the local police department. William Lightner, also known as William Beagles, has been rounded up and shipped back to Houston and will soon be sent to Idaho where he is accused of violating parole. The forty-three year old Lightner had served ten years of a twenty year sentence for lewd conduct with a twelve year old girl. He was released on parole but had to wear an electronic G.P.S. band that allowed Idaho law enforcement officers to monitor his location. It is believed that on July twenty-first Lightner cut off the device and, along with his wife, headed south in the family van. The couple was living in Chunux Village in the Corozal District when they were discovered, possibly due to publicity from the television show “America’s Most Wanted.” On September twenty-ninth, based on a request from the U.S. Embassy, Lightner was picked up by Immigration officials for illegally entering the country on a false birth certificate. After being briefly released by a Magistrate, Lightener was again detained by police and this time consented to his expulsion from the country on October third. News Five has been unable to determine exactly what Lightner may have been up to in Chunux, but he faces a return to prison for his Idaho parole violation, where he is classified as a violent sexual predator. According to a U.S. Embassy spokesman, coordination with Belizean police and immigration authorities was excellent and they look forward to catching up with more fugitives from U.S. justice who are believed to be hiding out in virtually every corner of Belize.