U.S. Marshals arrest man fleeing sexual abuse conviction

Aug. 6--A task force of U.S. Marshals and members of the Carbon County Sheriff's Office tracked and arrested a man who fled a Yellowstone County courtroom before a conviction for sexually abusing a child Wednesday.

Joshua Aaron Brown, a 45-year-old man from Billings, left his trial in Yellowstone County District Court at around 11:00 a.m. and was found several hours later in a Boyd farmhouse on the highway to Red Lodge.

"Something like this happening is not terribly common in my experience, but people who are charged with sexual crimes against children, they're one group of people who especially don't want to go to jail," said U.S. Marshal for the District of Montana Rodney Ostermiller.

Brown, who was out of custody on bond at the time of his trial, appeared before District Judge Ashley Harada Wednesday morning. While the jury was out determining his guilt or innocence for one charge of sexual abuse of a child and attempted sexual abuse of a child, Ostermiller said Brown "left and never came back."

After alerting local authorities to Brown's leaving the courthouse, Ostermiller said U.S. Marshals received a call from the Carbon County Sheriff's Office. Deputies found Brown about 40 miles from the Yellowstone County Courthouse in the attic of a farmhouse. Ostermiller said him being in an attic made the situation strategically difficult for deputies to safely arrest him, and they reached out to U.S. Marshals for assistance.

"It was already a very high-risk situation, and historically there are no higher risks than arresting a sex offender," Ostermiller said.

Authorities arrested Brown, who Ostermiller said did not put up any resistance, at around 4:30 p.m. He is currently in custody in Yellowstone County Detention Facility.

The jury, Ostermiller said, found Brown guilty on both charges in absentia.

In 2016, a Yellowstone County justice of the peace sentenced a 39-year-old man to 30 days in jail, who then attempted to flee the courthouse. A security guard tackled him in the lobby, and he was sentenced to an additional 30 days in jail.

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