An American fugitive recently captured in Chapala by Mexican authorities has been put behind bars in Fairfax, Virginia, according U.S. media reports released this week.
Wesley Thomason, 39, apparently spent more than a decade on the lam south of the border, hiding out alternately in the Lakeside area and in San Migual de Allende under an assumed name.
He was originally busted in November 2000 on allegations that he provided drugs to underage females, enticed them into engaging in sex acts, and secretly recorded the encounters on video tape to be sold on the porn market. On the verge of facing trial on charges of carnal knowledge, manufacturing sexually explicit material involving a minor, possession of cocaine and indecent liberties, he fled Virginia for parts unknown.
Virginia police revealed that United States Marshals tracked him to Mexico earlier this year, sharing information with Mexican authorities who eventually located his place of residence in La Floresta. He was picked up in late July, extradited to California and finally transferred to the Fairfax County jail. If convicted on all original charges, he stands to serve up to 40 years in prison.
Chapala police were not involved in Thomason’s location and arrest. However, police chief Reynol Contreras immediately recognized him from a mug shot appearing in this week’s news reports. He indicated that Thomason was known locally by the alias Chris Stevens and had been detained numerous times on the basis of complaints about scandalous and aggressive behavior lodged by his neighborhoods.
On several occasions he was nailed in possession of small quantities of narcotics, Contreras notes. Under those circumstances he was remanded to federal authorities based in Ocotlan, where apparently he gained release upon payment of corresponding fines.
Acquaintances say “Chris” was a familiar face at several local watering holes and was prone to erratic behavior provoked by addiction to meth amphetamine. A skilled computer geek, over a period of years he met many lakeside expats in stints as head of the Lake Chapala Society MAC users club, graphic designer for the Lake Chapala Review and an independent technical consultant.