Fugitive sex offender Michael Andrew Stephens, on the run from Hawai'i authorities for 15 years after faking a "disappearance" at sea, has been captured in Mexico.

Stevens, 56, was convicted in 1990 of sexually assaulting three teenage boys and was awaiting trial on similar charges in a new case in 1993 when he fled.

The teenage victim in the new assault case sued Stevens and won a $550,000 default judgment against him here in 1996.

Stephens applied for a U.S. passport in 1996 at a U.S. Consulate in Mexico, using his birth name, Michael Andrew Kulhanek, which allowed him to obtain a work permit in Mexico, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Stephens was designated a "major case" by the Marshals Service in 2006.

In April of this year, Stephens was featured on the "60 seconds of shame" segment of the TV show "America's Most Wanted," generating several tips and reported sightings of the fugitive.

On Oct. 3, "America's Most Wanted" received a tip that he owned a business in Zihuatanego, Mexico, and lived nearby, according to the Marshals Service.

Marshals and Mexico Customs officials arrested him and are holding him for deportation to Houston. From there, he will be extradited to Hawai'i for trial on the outstanding sex assault case, according to the prosecutor's office here.

"I don't believe it," James Lindblad, owner of A-1 Bail Bond, said yesterday.

"I've written more than 20,000 bonds in my career here, and this is the only guy that ever got away. I always knew he was in Mexico. I almost caught him there once but he slipped away."

Stevens was convicted in 1990 for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy, but over the objections of prosecutors he was sentenced to five years of probation.

That sentence was granted after friends and business associates of Stevens wrote glowing letters of recommendation on his behalf to the sentencing judge.

In 1993, he was indicted on new charges of second- and fourth-degree sex assault and promoting liquor to a minor.

Lindblad forfeited a $100,000 bond after Stephens fled.

A $500,000 warrant for his arrest has been pending since early 1996.