Two suspected child abusers, on the lam for over 17 years, were taken into custody early Wednesday morning, less than a month after the allegations against them were featured on HLN’s “The Hunt with John Walsh.”
Joseph Horace Green, 52, and Channell Nicola Warren, 43, were arrested in Plantation, Florida, on charges they had unlawful sex with a student in 2000 while running the Enlightened Minds school in Los Angeles.
The pair, who went by the pseudonyms Ty and Tisa Yiyara, fled Los Angeles in a recreational vehicle after rumors spread that a student had slept in their room during a school field trip.
“They’re driving around in this humongous RV, state-of-the-art, you can’t miss it,” Los Angeles Police Detective Tracey Benjamin told HLN, “But they literally vanished.”
Benjamin told CNN on Thursday that the September episode of “The Hunt” that featured the case helped renew interest in the hunt for Green and Warren, attracting the attention and resources of several law enforcement agencies nationwide.
The capture, said Benjamin, was “a real team effort.”
In the end, the couple was caught after facial recognition technology led investigators to Plantation, Florida, just outside Fort Lauderdale.
“The show opened up a new world to us,” Benjamin said.
Green and Warren were exploring the purchase of another school when police caught up to them, according to Benjamin. They were working with a home-school network, and had been home schooling their own four children.
Detective Robert Rettig of the Plantation Police Department told CNN that his agency assisted in apprehending the couple, but the case belonged to the LAPD and the FBI.
The FBI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
