OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – A recent arrest for Oklahoma City police required a trip across the globe. A man accused of sexually assaulting a minor tried to flee the country, but he didn’t get away.

“U.S. Marshals went over to the other side of the world to find this guy, got him, flew him back here,” said Msgt. Gary Knight with the Oklahoma City Police Department.

You can run, but you can’t hide. It’s a case dating back to early 2022 dealing with 30-year-old suspect Kyle Mayes.

“We were made aware that there was sexual contact going on between the suspect and a minor child,” Knight said. “At some point, a school found out and that’s how we came about knowing this.”

Court documents show that Mayes lived in the west metro with a woman and her kids. Police tell KFOR that they were unsure if he was married to the woman or just a boyfriend. Mayes allegedly sexually assaulted one of the children multiple times and then once he found out he was going to be arrested, he tried to get away.

“At some point he fled to Thailand,” Knight said.

So, Oklahoma City officers along with the U.S. Marshal Service tracked him down and contacted Thailand’s government. From there, they took him into custody. U.S. Marshal’s flew overseas to go get him and bring him back a year and a half after police were first notified about the crimes. Knight said fleeing the country used to be something criminals could get away with.

“Years ago, if a person fled the state or fled a town often times, they were safe because nobody knew where to find them,” he said.

But that’s not the case anymore.

“Things are different,” he said. “We have a much longer reach than we used to and in this case we reached all the way to the other side of the world to find this guy and bring him back here to face justice.”

Knight said that Mayes landed back in the U.S. last week and is set to be brought back to Oklahoma to face multiple charges.