by SEAN KIMMONS
A Buda child molester received the maximum punishment after he fled from his trial in June and was later caught in Mexico, court records show.
John Everett Fitch, 43, was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday for indecency with a child by sexual contact, a second-degree felony. He was also given 10 years for failure to appear, which will run concurrently with the other conviction, records show.
Hector Gomez, of the U.S. Marshal’s office in Austin, said previously that multiple suspects were under surveillance in hopes of leading them to Fitch.
On July 11, authorities found Fitch after tailing one of his girlfriends to the border at Nuevo Laredo. When she crossed over, Mexican police then took up the pursuit, which led them to a hotel where Fitch was holed up. Once apprehended, he was turned over to U.S. law enforcement at the border.
Fitch’s girlfriend, whose name has yet to be released, is still under investigation for possible charges, authorities say.
While out on bail, Fitch disappeared from court on June 15, a day before he was found guilty of the indecency charge, stemming from incidents with a 12-year-old girl in 2009. The girl’s mother said that Fitch showed up to court that morning but then took off before he was due to testify.
Beginning in October 2009, the trial had been a long, constant ordeal for the victim’s family. District Judge Charles Ramsay rejected a plea agreement in June 2010, and the trial dragged on with ongoing motions until it went before a jury last month.
The girl’s mother, a 43-year-old Buda resident and ex-girlfriend of Fitch, said that he originally pled guilty to exposing himself to the girl but not guilty to inappropriate touching, charges on which he was later convicted.
The woman asked not to be named to protect her daughter’s privacy. It is the newspaper’s policy not to identify sexual assault victims.
This isn’t the first time Fitch has had a run-in with the law. In 1997, he received 10 years probation for injury of a child. The child involved in this case is not the same victim.
