A former Rolla resident and convicted Phelps County child molester recently was extradited from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, to Denton County, Texas, where he fled in 2005 on charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child and failing to register as a sex offender.
Steven Andrew Hayes, 50, had been on the lam since January, 2005, when he fled from a grand jury indictment for first-degree, felony charges of sexually assaulting a child and third-degree felony charges of failing to register as a sex offender in Lewisville, Denton County, Texas. The charges stem from allegations he drugged a 12-year-old girl and sexually assaulted her.
A repeat offender, Hayes, as a resident of Rolla in 1997, pleaded guilty to statutory sodomy in the first-degree and deviate sexual intercourse with a person less than 14-years-old. He was sentenced to five years in the Missouri Department of Corrections and probation was denied by the court.
Hayes also was arrested in 1989 and placed on probation for “taking indecent liberties” with a 14-year-old girl in Wichita, Kan., according to a story published by the Calgary Herald in December.
A spokesperson with the Denton County Sheriff’s Department said after Hayes absconded from justice in 2005, the U.S. Marshall’s Office, the Northeast Division in Sherman, Texas, became involved in the manhunt and eventually tracked him to Calgary, where he was working for a construction company under the alias of James Michael Steiner.
Hayes also was featured on the television show, “America’s Most Wanted,” on Jan. 5, 2008.
In a story published on CBC’s Web site (Canadian news agency) the U.S. Marshall who discovered Hayes in Canada, Special Agent Paul Denton, was quoted saying Hayes left for Canada shortly after the AMW television show aired.
“That drove him into Canada because I think he feared that the AMW program may have led to people recognizing him, which would have resulted in tips . . . and his capture,” Denton said to CBC News.
After Hayes was captured by Calgary police officers on Dec. 9, he requested asylum in Canada.
“He initally requested asylum in his belief that if he is sent to prison as a sex offender, he won’t last long in prison,” Denton told CBC News.
In a hearing with the Immigration and Refugee Board on Dec. 11, Canadian authorities ordered Hayes deported to the United States, and he arrived in Denton County Dec. 16 and was immediately incarcerated.
According to the Denton County Sheriff’s Department, a “hold” was placed on Hayes, which means, regardless of whether he can raise bond of $100,000 for the sexual assault charge, or $2,500 bond for the failing to register charge, he will not be released from jail.