A former fugitive who was previously on the FBI's Most Wanted list has admitted to engaging in child sex trafficking with a teenage girl in exchange for extravagant gifts, as per authorities.
Donald Eugene Fields II, 61, pleaded guilty on Thursday to one count of child sex trafficking for accepting luxurious gifts from his friend and co-defendant Theodore "Ted" John Sartori Sr in exchange for providing access to a minor starting when she was 14, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.
Fields accepted bribes from Sartori, including cash, a car, a motorcycle, Christmas presents, and vacations, from the winter of 2013 until the summer of 2016. Sartori was involved in illegal sexual activities with the minor and, in the summer of 2016, financed a trip to Florida where he intended to engage in sexual activities with the underage girl.
Prosecutors stated that Fields instructed the minor to engage in sexual activities with Sartori. Fields was also facing state charges of statutory rape, statutory sodomy, child molestation, and witness tampering in Franklin County, Missouri, at the time. However, he fled his home and did not appear for a court hearing in May 2022, as reported in a previous FBI press release.
Fields was placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list in May 2023 and was apprehended on January 26, 2025, in Lady Lake, Florida, during a routine traffic stop when local authorities discovered he was on the Most Wanted list. Fields was arrested after police noticed that the license plate on his car did not match the vehicle he was driving, according to the FBI.
Sartori, now 65, is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in August 2024 to one count of travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.
Fields is set to be sentenced on July 15 and could face a minimum of 10 years to a maximum of life in prison.
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