WASHAKIE COUNTY, Wyo. – An accused sex offender who spent 15 years on the FBI’s Most Wanted Fugitives List was apprehended last week at his workplace. Agents arrested Edward Eugene Harper, 63, at a … wait for it….
Sheep ranch.
While the child molestation of which Harper stands accused certainly is nothing to laugh about, the man’s place of employment begs all sorts of crass jokes.
Agents were not terribly surprised to find Harper in Wyoming. A native of Arkansas, he worked as a ranch hand in both Wyoming and Montana during his youth. Arresting officers admitted to being a bit taken aback by Harper’s appearance, though: At the time of his arrest, he looked nothing like the picture smiling at them from fugitive alerts.
Harper was sought on allegations he molested two girls, ages 3 and 8, in Hernado, Miss., in 1994. When the feds caught up with him, he was living in a camper on the back of a 1979 pickup truck and working as a sheep herder.
Because Harper at one time was a member of the Montana Freemen — a survivalist group that engaged in an infamous, 81-day armed standoff with federal agents in 1996 — authorities called in SWAT and hostage-negotiation teams after a telephone tip alerted them to his whereabouts. Harper surrendered without incident and admitted his identity.
We’re sure the sheep were relieved.
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