U.S. Marshals arrest Gwinnett County fugitive, convicted sex offender in Mexico after nearly five years on the run

Hatter disappeared a few months later, on Jan. 21, 2018, when he stopped reporting to his probation officer and ceased reporting as a sex offender.

“Immediately, probation officials contacted the U.S. Marshals, who began their hunt,” the Marshals Service said in a statement. “During the five-year search for Hatter, information was developed that he had left the United States and traveled to the Philippines. Later, he was located in Mexico — where he worked as a teacher.”

U.S. Marshals worked with authorities in Mexico to investigate Hatter’s activities in that country. There was a short pursuit by Mexican authorities, but they eventually captured Hatter on Saturday.

Hatter was brought back to the U.S. on Sunday and is currently being held in a jail, although officials have not said where he is being held. The Gwinnett County Jail’s inmate system did not have any record of him being placed in its custody on Monday.

Gwinnett County court records show a felony violation of the state sex offender registry charge was filed against Hatter after he disappeared in January 2018, however.

“Since 2018, Mr. Hatter has been looking over his shoulder, knowing one day Deputy United States Marshals would find him,” United States Marshal for the Northern District of Georgia Thomas Brown said in a statement. “On Saturday December 3rd, that day arrived. The U.S. Marshals would not give up their hunt. Hatter is now back where he belongs, in the custody of the United States government.”