BROWNSVILLE, Texas – A fugitive wanted in Tennessee on multiple counts of child rape and exploitation was captured Saturday near Matamoros, Mexico, and jailed in southern Texas.
Donald Edward Lynch, 66, who has been profiled three times on the TV program "America's Most Wanted," was taken into custody by Mexican authorities in El Mesquital, The Brownsville Herald reported for a story in its Sunday editions.
Before being extradited across the border, Lynch claimed his real name was Reynaldo Price and denied the charges.
"It's `cause I'm black," he told reporters. "Tennessee is the most prejudiced state in the country."
Lynch faces 11 counts of rape of a child, 38 counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor and five counts of aggravated sexual battery in Kingsport, Tenn.
Lynch said he had been living in Matamoros, working at a hotel. "In the four years I was here, numerous kids came to the hotel and I didn't do anything to them," he said.
In February 2003, two sisters, ages 7 and 11, told Tennessee investigators that Lynch repeatedly molested them while baby-sitting them. Investigators allege that he victimized eight other girls, the youngest 3 years old.
Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio said Lynch was being held Saturday night at the Carrizalez-Rucker Detention Center in Olmito.
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