A 42-year-old Texas man wanted for violating his probation in an educator-student relationship case was taken into custody at a Walmart in Las Cruces, ending an El Paso County Sheriff’s Office search that stretched across the state line. Bryan Stewart was apprehended in southern New Mexico on August 13 after an off-duty supervisor recognized him shopping in the store and alerted authorities.
According to KOAT, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office had been searching for Stewart after officers received a tip about his probation violation and travel in New Mexico. New Mexico State Police apprehended Stewart at the Walmart, and he was subsequently booked into the Doña Ana County Detention Center. The station’s report identifies Stewart as a Texas absconder who was traveling through the state when he was spotted.
Stewart faces charges of an improper relationship between an educator and a student, according to the same account. He previously worked as a health teacher and girls’ track coach at Irvin High School in El Paso, and is the son of former longtime Irvin football coach Leon Stewart, according to a Facebook post from El Paso Times.
A History of Fleeing Texas Authorities
This is not the first time Stewart has run from Texas law enforcement. In August 2018, he was placed on the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Most Wanted list before being arrested in Kansas on charges alleging he had an improper sexual relationship with a student at his home and at a local park, per the same Facebook post. He was later extradited to El Paso County to face those charges…