May 25 (UPI) — A 58-year-old Missouri man accused of sex trafficking a least one child was added to the FBI’s infamous Ten Most Wanted Fugitive list Thursday, as federal authorities plead for the public’s help to bring a suspect they described as armed and dangerous into custody.
Donald Eugene Fields II was indicted in December on one count of child sex trafficking.
“The unsettling reality is there is individuals out there that prey and will hurt the most vulnerable of society, and that’s our children,” Franklin County Sheriff Steven Pelton told reporters during a press conference Thursday.
“We have no idea where Mr. Fields is.”
Prosecutors accuse him and a second man, 62-year-old Theodore John Sartori Sr., of attempting to recruit, entice provide, patronize and solicit a minor to engage in a commercial sex act from January 2013 to June 2017. Sartori faces the same charge as Fields.
The Justice Department said Sartori paid Fields cash, cars, motorcycles, vacations and Christmas presents “for access to the victim.”
Fields has also been accused of statutory rape and sodomy, child molestation and witness tampering. He has been missing since March 2022 when he vacated his residence and failed to appear for a court hearing.
“We come here today to really plead with the citizens not just of our Franklin county but truly the country. We have no idea where this guy is and attempt to bring him to justice,” Pelton said.
A $250,000 reward has been offered for information that leads to his capture.
“It is our hope, that with Mr. Fields’ placement on the FBI top 10 Most Wanted list as well as the $250,000 reward and with the help of you, the public, and the press that Mr. Fields will be located and brought to justice,” U.S. Attorney Sayler Fleming said during the press conference.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Jay Greenberg said Fields’ last known residence was Franklin County while he has connections to Phelps County and is known to travel to Florida.
He added that Fields has previously mentioned intentions to travel to “Mexico or beyond.”
“It’s very uncommon for an individual to be put on the list,” he said. “The last individual we had on the list dates back almost 60 years. That person was on the list in the 1960s for about one month before a tip from the public led to his capture in Virginia.”
To add a suspect to the notorious list, authorities must prove that the person sought represents “a substantial danger to the public” and that they believe their capture is likely with the public’s help, he explained.
Fields is believed to be in a relationship with a 30-year-old woman, Jennifer Isgriggs, who has also gone by Jennifer Fields, and is wanted on an outstanding warrant for failure to pay child support, according to the Phelps County prosecutor’s office.
“The victims deserve justice and that is why we’re asking the community and the citizens across the country because we have no idea right now where Mr. Fields is and they absolutely deserve justice,” Pelton said.