Walter Lee Williams Explained

Walter Lee Williams
Charge:Sexual Exploitation of Children and related crimes
Reward:$100,000 USD
Birth Date:3 November 1948
Birth Place:Durham, North Carolina, U.S.
Nationality:American
Race:White
Gender:Male
Weight:180lb
Occupation:University Professor
Religious Buddhist leader
Conviction:Granted
Conviction Penalty:Five years
Conviction Status:Permanent
Added Date:June 17, 2013
Caught Date:June 18, 2013
Number:500
Status:Captured

Walter Lee Williams (born November 3, 1948) is an American former professor of anthropology, history, and gender studies at the University of Southern California.

In 2013, after his retirement, he was arrested, convicted, and imprisoned for five years on the charge of "illicit conduct in foreign places". He had sexual acts with two underage boys in the Philippines and possessed erotic paraphernalia related to child pornography.[1] [2] Williams was apprehended in a public park in Playa del Carmen, Mexico in 2013 and extradited to Los Angeles, United States for trial.

Early life

As a teenager in Atlanta in the 1960s, Williams was inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. to get involved in the civil rights movement. In 1978 he became a gay rights activist, protesting against Anita Bryant’s Save Our Children campaign.[3]

Williams earned an undergraduate degree in history from Georgia State University in 1970. He did graduate work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he earned a master's degree in history in 1972, and a Ph.D. in history, in 1974.[4] His doctoral thesis was Black American Attitudes Toward Africa: The Missionary Movement, 1877—1900, and would form the basis of his first book.[5]

Career

In 1979, while Williams was an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati, he and Gregory Sprague founded the Committee on Lesbian and Gay History, an affiliate of the American Historical Association.[6]

In his fourth book, The Spirit and the Flesh: Sexual Diversity in American Indian Culture, in 1986, Williams came out as gay.[7] This book was the first complete study of the berdache, a term for androgynous and gender-variant people among the American Indians.[8] The book won the 1987 Gay Book of the Year Award from the American Library Association,[9] the 1986 Ruth Benedict Award from the Society of Lesbian and Gay Anthropologists,[10] and the Award for Outstanding Scholarship from the American Foundation for Gender and Genital Medicine and Science presented at the 1987 World Congress for Sexology.[11]

From July 1987 to July 1988, Williams was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to lecture in American history at Gadjah Mada University, in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.[12] While there, Williams collected autobiographical interviews, 27 of which were published as Javanese Lives: Women and Men in Modern Indonesian Society in 1991.[13]

Williams has published ten books and taught American Indian Studies.[14] [15] He has also been recognized for his work with the gay and lesbian community.[15]

An amateur ethnographer, Williams has also traveled throughout North America from Alaska to Yucatán to study Native American tribes. His other areas of expertise include cultures of Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, based on his years of field research in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, the Philippines and Polynesia.

In 1994–1995, Williams, with Jim Kepner, oversaw the merger of the International Gay and Lesbian Archives and the ONE, Inc. library holdings to form the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at USC, the largest repository of LGBT materials in the world.[16] [17]

In 1986, Williams became a registered member of Soka Gakkai International. On February 27, 1996, he provided a series of lectures on Gay Marriage at Soka University. Ultimately, on March 24, 2006, Williams was awarded the Gandhi, King, Ikeda Award from Morehouse College, for his work during the civil rights and peace movements and in support of LGBT rights.[18] [19] Williams taught anthropology, gender studies and history at the University of Southern California until his retirement in 2011. He lived in Mexico on a retirement visa from 2011 to 2013, where he continued his earlier research among the Mayan Indians.[20]

Criminal conviction

On April 30, 2013, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Williams in the United States District Court for the Central District of California for sexual exploitation of children, travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, and engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places. Williams was accused of engaging in sexual acts with two underage boys in the Philippines via webcam.[21] At the time of his warrant, the reward value for his arrest was up to US$100,000.

On June 17, 2013, he was placed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. Williams was the 500th addition to the list.[22] [23] He was arrested in a public park in Playa del Carmen, Mexico one day after he was put on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list[24] and was extradited to Los Angeles, California for prosecution.

The FBI, with reasonable suspicion, searched Williams's personal computer, finding photographs of unclothed teenage boys. In 2014, Williams pleaded guilty to illicit sexual contact with boys aged 14 to 16 in the Philippines[20] and was sentenced to five years in prison.[25] He was given BOP#65562-112 and released from FCI Englewood in 2017.

Bibliography

Books

Author

Editor

Selected magazine articles

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Walter Lee Williams. 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130621031938/https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/walter-lee-williams/ . June 21, 2013 . March 8, 2023 .
  2. Web site: Ex-USC Professor Arrested in Mexico Returns to L.A. . June 2013 . February 4, 2014.
  3. Web site: Teach-in for Equality. Walter L. Williams. 2006–2007. February 4, 2014. March 4, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304103735/http://www.teachinforequality.net/speakers/walter-l-williams/. dead.
  4. Web site: USC College: Faculty: Department of Anthropology: Walter Williams. University of Southern California. March 2, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20071126170111/http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/faculty/faculty1003821.html. November 26, 2007.
  5. Book: Park, Eunjin. "White" Americans in "Black" Africa: Black and White American Methodist Missionaries in Liberia, 1820-1875. 2001. Psychology Press. 0815340273. xxiii.
  6. Book: Stewart, Chuck. Proud Heritage: People, Issues, and Documents of the LGBT Experience. March 3, 2016. December 16, 2014. ABC-CLIO. 9781610693998. 128–.
  7. News: The Spirit and the Flesh: Sexual Diversity in American Indian Culture by Walter L. Williams. Monnig Atkinson. Jane. December 14, 1986. Los Angeles Times. March 3, 2016.
  8. News: Summary/Reviews: The spirit and the flesh. Booklist. American Library Association. March 3, 2016. March 7, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160307203818/https://www.buffalolib.org/vufind/Record/440879/Reviews. dead., quoted with permission by the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library.
  9. Web site: Stonewall Book Awards List : Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Round Table (GLBTRT). March 3, 2016.
  10. Web site: Winners of the Ruth Benedict Prize « AQA. Association for Queer Anthropology. March 3, 2016. March 5, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160305155355/http://queeranthro.org/awards/winners-of-the-ruth-benedict-prize/. dead.
  11. Web site: Winners of the AFGAGMAS Book Award 1999. Money. John. Kinsey Institute. March 3, 2016.
  12. Web site: Directory of American Fulbright Scholars, 1987-88. Council for International Exchange of Scholars. University of Arkansas. March 4, 2016. Council for International Exchange of Scholars.
  13. Web site: Javanese Lives: Women and Men in Modern Indonesian Society. August 1, 1991. Library Journal. BookVerdict. March 4, 2016.
  14. Web site: Archived copy . February 4, 2014 . March 1, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140301172453/http://www.worldpolicy.newschool.edu/wpi/globalrights/sexorient/williams.html/ . dead .
  15. Web site: Most Wanted Perv Prof Caught in Mexico: Top 10 Facts You Need to Know. June 19, 2013. February 3, 2014.
  16. News: Major Gay Archives Find a Home at USC : History: Two merged collections have 2 million items. The arrangement shows academia's growing acceptance of gay studies.. Boxall. Bettina. January 20, 1995. Los Angeles Times. March 4, 2016.
  17. News: History Under One Roof: The One Institute and Archives is the largest gay and lesbian collection in the world. Gallagher. John. June 19, 2001. The Advocate. 53–55. March 4, 2016.
  18. News: Family Matters. April 17, 2006. USC News. University of Southern California. March 4, 2016.
  19. News: Member's Recognition. Fall 2006. CLGH Newsletter, Volume 20, issue 2. 6. March 4, 2016.
  20. News: Ex-USC professor pleads guilty to sexually assaulting boys overseas - LA Times. Winton. Richard. Mather, Kate. September 5, 2014. Los Angeles Times. March 4, 2016. July 14, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150714155944/http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-ex-usc-professor-sex-boys-20140905-story.html. bot: unknown.
  21. Web site: FBI 'Most Wanted' Professor Walter Lee Williams Being Deported From Mexico. ABC News. ABC News.
  22. Web site: WALTER LEE WILLIAMS. FBI.gov. June 18, 2013.
  23. Web site: Walter Lee Williams, former USC professor, is 500th person to be added to FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list. CBS News. June 19, 2013.
  24. Web site: Ex-USC Professor Added to Most Wanted List Arrested in Mexica. https://archive.today/20130620043713/http://ktla.com/2013/06/18/fmr-usc-professor-added-to-fbis-most-wanted-list/%23axzz2Wdf5ut3n. dead. June 20, 2013. KTLA TV. June 19, 2013.
  25. Web site: Ex-USC professor and FBI fugitive gets 5 years in prison for child sex. Los Angeles Times. December 15, 2014. Los Angeles Times.

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