Oregon sex offender captured in California

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (KABC/CNN) – A registered sex offender was captured Thursday northeast of Los Angeles.

Stephen Merle Houk was convicted of sodomy and sexual abuse in Oregon in 2002.

California police had been looking for him since Tuesday after they say Houk pointed a gun at his wife.

That same day, he led police on a car chase in a motor home with his two children inside.

He abandoned the RV and his children when the vehicle got stuck in an orchard near Bakersfield.

Friday morning, Los Angeles officials provided details on the capture. Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell said, “He was located in a railyard at 200 North Avenue H in the city of Barstow. He was hiding inside a compartment of an empty railcar where detectives from the fugitive task force took him into custody without any further incident.”

Houk violated his parole in Oregon in 2016.

Authorities in the state have been looking for him ever since.

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