Accused child molester escorted back to Alabama

By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer

A bad case of diaper rash led to the arrest on Maui last month of a man wanted in connection with a child-molestation case in Alabama.

Randy Earl Pitts came to the attention of Maui police officers in mid-April when child welfare workers placed three children in Pitts' household in foster custody after one of them was taken to a doctor with a severe infection that appeared to be the result of untreated diaper rash stemming from neglect.

Derick Dahilig, a spokesman for the state Department of Human Services, confirmed that the three children were taken out of Pitts' home on Maui last month, but because of privacy regulations could not provide more details.

Sgt. Jamie Becraft of the Maui Police Department said Maui police officers were "assisting a state agency" when they ran a background check on Pitts and learned that he was wanted in Alabama where he had been indicted in 2001, accused of molesting a child under the age of 12 to whom he is related.

"We had a hit on him on the NCIC (the FBI's National Crime Information Center) and he was arrested," Becraft said.

Pitts was arrested April 12 and three days later waived his rights to an extradition hearing.

He was turned over to deputies from the Dekalb County Sheriff's Department in Alabama and was escorted there to face the molestation charge.

Alabama officials said Pitts was born in Hawai'i and that he returned here after his indictment, hoping that no one would find him or connect him with his legal problems in Alabama.

WAFF-TV in Huntsville, Ala., contributed to this report. Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-7412.