Suspect who fled Sherman court to South Dakota back in Texas

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Posted: 6:39 PM Aug 19, 2008
Last Updated: 6:39 PM Aug 19, 2008
Reporter: KXII-TV Staff
Email Address: firstnews@kxii.com

27 comments

Preston Hightower

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GRAYSON COUNTY, Tex. -- Authorities have finished transferring a fugitive from South Dakota to Texas. Preston Hightower left a Sherman courtroom after being found guilty back in July and never came back for sentencing. Hightower is back in the custody of Grayson County authorities Tuesday night.

Grayson County Sheriff’s deputies brought Hightower back to Sherman on Tuesday in shackles. Hightower faces three 10-year prison terms for fleeing, as well as the sexual assault sentence.

In July, Hightower was sentenced in-absentia, meaning he was not there when Judge Rim Nall handed down three 20-year sentences to be served at the same time.

Authorities say the shot at freedom came at a heavy price for Hightower.

"They don't seem to get understand that you're not going to gain anything by fleeing. The [U.S.] Marshal Service did a great job, went all over the country to find this guy, and weren't going to stop until we found him,” Grayson County district attorney Joe Brown said.

Friends and families of Hightower also face charges for their alleged role in his run from authorities.

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Comments are posted from viewers like you and do not always reflect the views of this station.

Posted by: LJ full of stuff on Aug 29, 2008 at 11:07 PM
how do you know the prosecutor did not ask him to be taken into custody. what is the baises for your rant about joe brown. were you in the court room when this happened or are you just goin on what you hear.

Posted by: Pat King Location: Sherman on Aug 25, 2008 at 07:43 PM
LJ--you sound like an attorney that has been beaten too many times by those "incompetent" attorneys in the DAs office. Do you have an axe to grind? You don't even have the guts to use your name.

Posted by: Pete Location: Sherman on Aug 24, 2008 at 05:57 AM
Hang the mother too!

Posted by: LJ Location: Sherman on Aug 23, 2008 at 10:18 PM
To LR DOESN'T KNOW WHAT TALKING ABOUT; yes, the judge should have ordered the defendant taken into custody immediately after the guilty verdict was read. But since the judge didn't do that, then the prosecutor who IS a part of the DA's office should have been on their toes enough to request that the defendant be taken into custody. Apparently DA Joe Brown's incompetence is rubbing off on his employees. Too bad Brown can't be impeached before his entire staff is contaminated by his gross negligence if they haven't been already!!

Posted by: Anonymous Location: Sherman on Aug 23, 2008 at 03:11 AM
Well I just wanted to say that Preston Hightower should be convicted of his crimes. The family should not have been in denial and let him face his sentence like a man and not a coward. I know his mother personally and alot of co-workers think highly of her. Belvy would be the last person to be in trouble with the law. She was trying to protect her son the best way she knew how. Unfortunately, it was a high price to pay. We will be praying for her and hoping things will turn out well.

Posted by: Billy Bob Buck Location: Carpenters Bluff on Aug 21, 2008 at 09:38 AM
Well, Well, Well, Mr. KNOWS THE FACTS; so now Bill Sturch has all this Junk Surplus Air-Force setting and rotting at Ecker Field. He also said that in a few years he could sell it for a lot of money, I also have some ocean front property in Hendrex for sale, it is worth a fortune. The BCS has to be the most incompetent man that has ever wore a badge. Those junk airplanes and helicopters are like the horse that your unreasonable Officer Smokey & Bandit ran over, it is worth what some fool will pay for it, and when the fool is the one selling it looks bleak. Bill please resign you have misused the budget, your unsupervised employees mainly the JA has threw gross incompedance caused Mr. York to be murdered, you by intention can't solve the simple Beaty case, even the kids one of which is pregnent that robbed Ben's BBQ is unsolved. There is a tape showing her at the scene, LOL. Oh don't forget to fule that Hot-Rod on the Tax payers card, now that is one fine law enforcement tool.

Posted by: LR DOES NOT KNOW WHAT TALKING ABOUT on Aug 20, 2008 at 10:39 PM
well Lr you are showing your ignorance. The District Attorney's office has no authority to take anyone into custody. The Judge is the only one in a courtroom who can take anyone into custody. So the blame is not on the District Attorney's office

Posted by: knows the facts on Aug 20, 2008 at 08:49 PM
while it was once proposed, the proposal to have several law enforcement agencies fund airplanes never was put into action. i remember is simply wrong about grayson paying $5000 did not happen.

Posted by: ph Location: oklahoma on Aug 20, 2008 at 08:23 PM
Oh, and lets not forget the ones that help the loosers are not welcome there either...

Posted by: ph Location: oklahoma on Aug 20, 2008 at 08:20 PM
Happy, that was one of my points. The lack of even wanting to try because alot of these cases are hard to prove. Along with other reasons, and sex offenders should not be in any official position. I have witnessed 4 child sexual assault cases. This was the only one in Texas, the rest were in oklahoma. 2 jerks got over 20 year sentences, one got probation, and one was told it had been too long to try. I feel if more cases were taken to trial and we show these children we will back them 200%. and we will fight to the end to stop these loosers. show them they are not welcome in our community. let the "officials" know we dont care how much it costs. I could go on and on. Not trying is an injustice to our children. Again, I feel Grayson County showed they will not stop. Sexual predators are not welcome there.

Posted by: Inside Location: Bells on Aug 20, 2008 at 07:28 PM
To Mr. I remember: Yes you are part correct, the Board of Commissioners did approve $5,000.00 for service of the airplanes that Mr. Sturch has acquired. Mr. Sturch had a good story of all he could help Grayson County and others with. However, I don't think the deal was a good one. It appears that the aircraft are unoperable or have no pilots or something is wrong. I am going to ask for an investigation to see if any fraud was involved. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Posted by: Five K Location: Ding Dong City on Aug 20, 2008 at 07:16 PM
Where o Where is the $5,000.00 given you by Grayson County Commissioners, Mr. Sturch; was it used to make bail for Mr. Mullinix,so he could kill Mr. York???????????????????????

Posted by: i remember on Aug 20, 2008 at 03:57 PM
i don't know any thing about billy bob buck but i do remember the Sheriff of Grayson Telling on the news that the county of Grayson had indeed given money to Bryan County Sheriff's Office to support the Airplane to use in such a case as this one. But on the other hand i don't care how this guy got back to grayson county just so he got back

Posted by: Bily Bob Buck Location: Carpenters Bluff on Aug 20, 2008 at 03:44 PM
Bill Sturch, you need to have that sore toe looked, every time someone steps on it you spout out something that reflects your incompetence as Sheriff.

Posted by: happy2bhere on Aug 20, 2008 at 02:50 PM
ph - I agree with you 100%, however many of the authorities don't want to get involved in such crimes, I know this happened to someone I know, and that person reported the crime and the officials said it's probably been too long to do anything about it, and this is the person who is the Carter County Deputy! So, it's very sad that these victims continue to be victimized by the system, officials, abuser and the family of the abuser!

Posted by: ph Location: oklahoma on Aug 20, 2008 at 12:18 PM
I encourage everyone to get involved speaking loudly about the light sentences some of these perves get. I am against many things, but child predators make me very angry. I am amazed that some predators get off with only probation. We have to let the system and the offenders know that we WILL NOT accept this!!! They are taking a child's life. They should get no less! The safer we make our children feel, the easier it will be for them to tell. They mess up their minds. We must speak louder than they do. I feel obligated to say that even though things went bad at the end, if it wasn't for the Grayson County authorities keeping on top of this case, he would never have been punished at all. As stated by some of you already, there are too many places that "sweep it under the rug" because some are very hard to prosecute. If you know someone who is going thru this, get involved. The picture is even bigger than you probably think.

Posted by: Taxpayer Location: Sherman on Aug 20, 2008 at 09:06 AM
I agree LJ

Posted by: Tim Bob Joe Location: Hang'em High on Aug 20, 2008 at 08:33 AM
Get A Rope! High Noon at the Courthouse square!

Posted by: happy2bhere Location: OK on Aug 20, 2008 at 07:33 AM
Well, at least in Grayson County they put the sexual offenders in jail. Carter County has a deputy sheriff who's a sexual offender and they know it. Still have him working there, though, I'm sure it's because of the money his family has donated to the election. It's truly a sad world when a deputy sheriff is a KNOWN sexual abuser and STILL employed! I'm certainly happy I don't live in Carter County anymore. Beware folks, there's a sexual abuser/predator claiming to protect you from such criminal acts! And, Yes... HANG HIGHTOWER... HANG HIM HIGH!!

Posted by: Anonymous on Aug 20, 2008 at 05:41 AM
Lets take Preston a ring to him for his husband to be in prsion. haha

Posted by: The Man Location: Bryan County USA on Aug 20, 2008 at 01:18 AM
Did yall know that billy bob is actually a former employee of our county that was fired for ....................... and ............! Talk about a bad apple!

Posted by: Bob Billie doe Location: inbred bluff on Aug 20, 2008 at 01:16 AM
and while ur at it hang billy bob for being such an idiot. He is a perv also and goes to show why cousins should not marry!

Posted by: LJ Location: Sherman on Aug 19, 2008 at 10:04 PM
Hey Joe Brown, it wouldn't have cost all of that tax-payer money to get the feds involved if your office had taken him into custody when he was found guilty at his trial. Sure you weren't going to stop looking until you found him because his fleeing was a direct result of incompetence from your office. And you want a raise????? Doesn't sound to me that you deserve one, a pay-cut would be much more appropriate!!!

Posted by: Anonymous on Aug 19, 2008 at 09:09 PM
You family and friends of this idiot thought you would get by with this I guess you found wrong

Posted by: Observant Location: Texas on Aug 19, 2008 at 08:02 PM
Welcome back perv! Hope you enjoy your extra time in TDC!! Too bad you got your family involved, now they get to have their own trials! Yeeewww might be a redneck if... your family reunions are hosted by the prison system! LMAO

Posted by: Billy Bob Buck Location: Carpenters Bluff on Aug 19, 2008 at 07:40 PM
Dad Gum it Grayson County, the commissioners gave Bill Sturch of the BCSO $5,000.00 to have access to his Combat Air Force, and I see that Mr. Hightower, was transported back home Via auto. Why would Bill not fly him back, the money was put up front???? Sturch tooted his horn saying that the Air Force would be excellent for returning escapees and such, I think Bill has DUPED the commissoners of Grayson County.

Posted by: MR. X Location: TX on Aug 19, 2008 at 06:43 PM
HANG THEM ALL.

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