Fugitive featured on TV caught in N.C.

KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C., May 29 (UPI) -- Cleveland County, N.C., authorities said they have arrested a convicted sex offender who was featured on Fox's "America's Most Wanted."

Cleveland County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Danny Gordon said fugitive Richard Allen Sloan, 45, was arrested Wednesday by the department and U.S. marshals near Kings Mountain, N.C., the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer reported Thursday.

Authorities said Sloan, who was convicted of first-degree sexual abuse in March 2002, disappeared after he was allowed to leave a release program to attend a court-ordered meeting on Feb. 8 of last year. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment after he was found guilty of sexually abusing a 7-year-old girl.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Otis Hamilton said authorities were tipped off by an informant who saw Sloan's picture in a newspaper.

"He was surprised we were able to locate him," Hamilton said. "He was cooperative."