ESCAPED: Nathan Manuel Mendoza - Sex Offender - TX

Teen Sex Offender Escapes Halfway House Oct 25, 2006 04:52 PM EDT An 18-year-old is on the run for holding a pair of scissors to a Reagan High School teacher's throat and trying to sexually assault her. Nathan Manuel Mendoza did not return to the Turman Halfway House in Austin Tuesday afternoon. The Texas Youth Commission believes this youth should be considered very dangerous. Local law enforcement officials are investigating. Mendoza is a registered sex offender. He is described as an 18-year-old Hispanic male with black hair and brown eyes and a light complexion. He is 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 137 pounds. He has a birthmark on the left side of his back, scars on both forearms and tattoos on both wrists. Anyone with information about Mendoza, or anyone who may come in contact with him, should contact police immediately.

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• Officers from the U.S. Marshals and the Texas Youth Commission Apprehension Team on Nov. 3 arrested 18-year-old Nathan Manuel Mendoza, wanted for the attempted sexual assault of a Reagan High School teacher, at a Dallas homeless shelter. Mendoza had been on the lam for just more than a week, after allegedly grabbing teacher Susan Straker, holding a pair of scissors to her neck, and threatening to rape her. Straker fought back and freed herself without incident, but Mendoza fled before AISD police could catch him. Mendoza enrolled at Reagan in mid-October and was living in a nearby halfway house, after serving time in a TYC facility on a 2002 charge of indecency with a 4-year-old in San Antonio. Officials say Mendoza fled to Dallas where he spent five days registered at the Dallas Life Foundation homeless shelter until his arrest on Friday. Mendoza was taken to the Dallas Co. Jail where he will stay until he can be transferred back to Travis Co., where his bail has been set at $50,000. Attempted sexual assault is a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison. – J.S.