A Decent Mug

A Mississippi fugitive accused of molesting young girls in the 1990s was arrested Thursday while tending sheep in the remote and rugged Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming, the FBI said.

Edward Eugene Harper, 63, was arrested without incident near his mountain camp, FBI spokeswoman Kathy Wright said. Harper had an unspecified number of handguns and rifles in his truck but was not carrying them when he was apprehended, she said. He was alone at the time.

Harper was a fugitive for nearly 15 years after failing to appear at a court hearing in DeSoto County, Miss., in October 1994. He was indicted in April of that year on charges of conspiracy to commit sexual battery, child fondling and sexual battery. Prosecutors alleged Harper befriended and then molested two girls — ages 3 and 8 — in Hernando, Miss.

The FBI believes Harper had been living a nomadic lifestyle out of his camper truck, doing odd jobs and herding sheep. He was working not far from the drainage of the Middle Fork of the Powder River, known as Outlaw Canyon, Lawson said. Butch Cassidy and the Hole in the Wall Gang used to hide out in the area in the late 19th century, according to the Kaycee Area Chamber of Commerce.