'Extremely Violent' Houston Escapee On Most Wanted List
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – The Texas Department of Public safety has placed the 42-year-old man who escaped a Houston halfway house last week upon its list of the state's most wanted fugitives.
DPS spokesman Tom Vinger says $7,500 is being offered for any information leading to Michael Elbert Young's arrest.
Young was last seen at the Southeast Texas Transitional Center at about 9:50 p.m. Thursday night.
The "high-risk" and violent sex offender scaled a barbed-wire fence at the east Houston halfway home and removed a digital tracking device from his ankle.
The state warns that Young has likely not been taking his medication and is "extremely violent and mentally unstable." He isn't believed to be armed, but is still considered dangerous.
"The fact that he's been incarcerated so long and the fact that he escaped from a halfway house mere days after he was released from prison is of great concern," Vinger said.
The 42-year-old had served his prison sentence as was transitioning into civilian life at the halfway house he escaped from, Vinger said.
Young stands 5-feet-5-inches tall and weighs 130 pounds.
He has a "South Park for Life" tattoo on his upper right arm; an "Evelyn" tattoo on his neck; "Mom" on his right chest; and "Audra" on his left chest. The state says he has numerous incision scars on his left wrist.
According to state records, Young has been arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; assault causing bodily injury; unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon; unlawful carrying of a weapon in prohibited places; tampering with identification numbers; failure to identify as a fugitive from justice; and for possession of marijuana.
Young's history of violence dates back to April of 1987, when he attempted to force a woman at knifepoint into an abandoned home. She escaped her attacker, records show.
Four months later he was arrested after threatening to kill a woman whom he followed off a bus.
In 1992, he pulled a weapon on a 15-year-old girl and raped her in a gas station.
In March of that year, he attacked "an acquaintance" in her apartment, slicing her back with shards of a broken mirror, DPS says.
After escaping the halfway house on April 5, Harris County immediately issued a warrant for his arrest. He was placed on the state's Most Wanted List on Tuesday.
The state says Young has a sixth-grade education and has worked "odd jobs," such as lawn mowing.
Police say he has family and friends in the Houston area, but could be hiding out anywhere in the state.
To report an anonymous tip, text "DPS" and the information to 274637 or call 1.800.252.8477.
