Lee County man sentenced in 13-year-old sexual battery charges

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. - A man who was arrested in Texas on sexual abuse charges after nearly a dozen years on the run has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Wade Hampton Bigelow, 54, was also deemed a habitual felony offender in Wednesday's sentencing, meaning he must serve his entire sentence.

Bigelow pleaded no contest in July to one count of lewd sexual battery and two counts of committing a lewd or lascivious act.

He could have been sentenced to between 27 years and life in prison without the plea deal. Lee County Circuit Judge Thomas S. Reese reduced 550 days from his sentence for the time he's already spent in jail. Bigelow also must register as a sex offender.

Bigelow, whose family came from Bonita Springs, was accused of molesting a 14-year-old girl in front of a 13-year-old girl in a North Fort Myers trailer home on Aug. 14, 1991.

After the girls told police, Bigelow left two suicides notes, faked his death, ditched his van at Englewood beach and fled. He lived as a fugitive, using two assumed names until his capture last year in Splendora, Texas, about 30 miles north of Houston.

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Information from: Naples Daily News, http:// WWW.NAPLESNEWS.COM