Fugitive accused of child molestation stopped while hauling kids’ ride to fair, cops say
An Indiana fugitive wanted on child molestation charges was caught while transporting a kids’ carnival ride to a New York county fair, authorities said.
Michael Wayne Gordon, 48, of Kokomo, was pulled over July 30 by police, who said he had a cracked windshield and a passenger without a seat belt, according to a July 31 news release from the West Seneca Police Department and Indiana court records.
Gordon told police he was on his way to the Erie County Fairgrounds to deliver a children’s carnival ride that he was towing in a trailer, authorities said.
Police said he did not have a driver’s license and could only provide the officer with a carnival company ride operator ID with the name “James Davis.”
Further investigation revealed the man’s real identity to be Michael Wayne Gordon.
Gordon was wanted by Indiana State Police and the U.S. Marshals Service, with warrants for charges of two counts of child molesting and one count of failure to register as a sex offender, police said.
Gordon was convicted of child molesting in 1994 and 1998, police said.
Miami County, Indiana, prosecutors filed another child molesting case against Gordon in 2021, and when he failed to show up for a hearing in 2023, a judge issued an arrest warrant, authorities said.
Attorney information for Gordon was not available.
Police said Gordon was not employed by the Erie County Fair or Strates Shows, the carnival company, but was hired as an independent contractor to transport the ride.
Gordon was booked at the Erie County Holding Center to await extradition, police said.
This story was originally published August 1, 2024 at 5:46 PM with the headline "Fugitive accused of child molestation stopped while hauling kids’ ride to fair, cops say."
