HOUSTON – A high-risk sex offender escaped from an east Houston halfway house, despite electronic monitoring, Texas Department of Public Safety officials said Friday.
Michael Elbert Young, 42, was last seen at the Southeast Texas Transitional Center at 10950 Beaumont Highway at 9:50 p.m. Thursday. DPS officials said he climbed over a barbed-wire fence and somehow got rid of his GPS tracking monitor.
Young is 5 feet 6 inches tall, 150 pounds and was last seen wearing a dark blue T-shirt, blue jeans a dark blue baseball cap. He has several tattoos, including "South Park for Life" on his right upper arm, "Evelyn" on his neck, "Mom" on his right chest, "Audra" on his left chest and numerous incision scars on his left wrist.
Officials said Young has family and friends in and around the South Park neighborhood in Houston. He may be mentally unstable -- a condition possibly aggravated when not taking medication, according to the DPS.
Young may be armed. He has a history of using weapons, primarily knives, during previous assaults.
"He doesn't have a history of having any firearms or anything like that," Maj. George Rhyne Jr. said.
He served eight years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for aggravated assault and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Both charges carried a sexual element, officials said.
Young also spent 20 years in the TDCJ for sexual assault of a child and attempted sexual assault.
State troopers said anyone who sees Young should not try to apprehend him, but they should call 911 immediately.
Once Young is captured, he will face a charge of failure to comply.