Texas man arrested for sex offenses in parish

Published 3:43 pm Thursday, June 15, 2017

A Rusk, Texas man is now in the Washington Parish Jail, charged with two counts of aggravated rape and one count of indecent behavior with juveniles, according to Chief Deputy Mike Haley of the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Haley said that Gary Wayne Mayfield, 63, allegedly committed the crimes several years ago against two juveniles in Washington Parish and were only revealed recently. Mayfield’s bond has been set at $530,000.

During the investigation, WPSO detectives determined that Mayfield, a former resident of Washington Parish, had relocated to Rusk, Haley said. In early February 2017, detectives obtained a warrant for Mayfield’s arrest and sent a copy of the warrant to detectives with the Cherokee County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office. Texas detectives were able to locate and arrest Mayfield and place him in the Cherokee County Jail awaiting extradition to Washington Parish.

Mayfield unsuccessfully fought the extradition process, but ultimately lost the fight, Haley said. A Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office transport officer traveled to Texas and brought him to the Washington Parish Jail on Sunday, June 11.

Haley said that additional information will not be released in order to protect the identity of Mayfield’s victims.

Washington Parish Sheriff Randy Seal complimented Washington Parish detectives on bringing the case to conclusion and working with Texas law enforcement officials to have Mayfield arrested and brought back to Washington Parish to stand trial.

“As always, our detectives devoted necessary resources to make an arrest,” he said. “Cases like this are always complicated and sensitive. I appreciate the hard work of our detective division.”