Pastor of Alabama church arrested two decades after he skipped Indiana trial on sex charges

Published 2:23 pm Monday, November 22, 2021

A man who eluded authorities for 20 years after skipping his Indiana trial on sex charges was arrested in Alabama, police said Monday.

Larry Albert Flake was taken into custody Friday after the FBI and police located him in Birmingham, Alabama, police in Richmond, Indiana said.

He was living under the assumed name of Larry White and was pastoring at a nearby church, FBI spokesman Paul Daymond told al.com.

Flake, now 75, failed to appear for his August 2001 trial on rape and sexual misconduct charges, according to police and al.com.

 

Richmond police had received a report that he attacked a 15-year-old girl in 1999.

A jury convicted him of sexual misconduct in his absence, but a mistrial was declared on a rape charge, al.com reports. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Investigators received a new lead in January. Flake was taken into custody on suspicion of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution and will face extradition to Indiana, Richmond police said.