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West Michigan’s Most Wanted: Doug Warner

Posted at 9:00 PM, Oct 25, 2014
and last updated 2014-12-02 16:17:00-05

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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.- Doug Warner, 62, has been convicted of raping family members twice.

Warner is a convicted sex offender in California and Michigan, and was released from prison in 2011. He then cut his ankle monitor and disappeared without a trace a year later.

Law enforcement and victims say he won’t stop until he’s caught, and that he's a danger to our communities and our children.

“She told me what happened, and I didn’t cry or anything. I told her I loved her and to go back to sleep,” the victim’s mother said. “But after she left I cried my eyes out.”

Her daughter was just 9-years-old when she was raped by Warner.

“Doug lied to me, the ultimate lie,” the mother said. “It’s the worst thing except death I can think of.”

It happened in Wyoming in 1998 while the victim was spending the night with Warner and his then live-in girlfriend.

Warner was sentenced to 10 to 50 years in prison. He served 12.

The details of the case are haunting along with Warner’s criminal history, which shows this wasn’t a one-time offense.

In 1986 he was convicted for raping another relative in San Diego.

“He started raping her at 14 or 15 and wanted to marry her, go down to Mexico and get married to her and he threatened her with guns,” the second victim’s mother said.

Warner was released from prison in 2011, and obeyed probation for the first year.

“When the parole agents went to check on him they found his electronic bracelet was left in his room, all his belongings were gone,” Deputy Joe Guzman with the US Marshal’s Office said.

In the mail, his sister found a letter saying only goodbye, signed Doug, along with his driver’s license, birth certificate and social security card.

“From all indications Mr. Warner had planned for sometime this escape and didn’t plan on turning back so he’s been a fugitive now for over 2 years,” Guzman said.

He says there’s been nothing on him, no word of any sightings or any information that he’s contacted any family since leaving the Marshals with no leads.

But the victim’s mother has a few ideas, saying Warner made connections when he was a truck driver.

“I believe that he made friends with other truck drivers, he had women friends and I believe they helped him abscond from Muskegon to wherever he went, which I think is Mexico, Texas or New Mexico,” she said.

She says Warner also spoke of heading to Australia.

The U.S. Marshals believe he’s likely using an alias.

While in West Michigan, Warner worked as a truck driver, a repairman and mechanical insulator.

“He’s a very intelligent man, he’s a mechanical genius, he’s very, very manipulative,” the victim’s mother said.

A predator who investigators say had 12 years in prison to plan his escape. Leaving his victims, his family, with the lifelong scars of sexual abuse.

“Nobody’s daughter's safe around him,” the victim’s mother said.

Douglas Jay Warner Is 5’8” and 200 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.

Investigators believe he may have assumed an alias and those who know him say he may be working as a mechanic.

If you see him, do not approach him. Call 911 if you know where he is call the U.S. Marshals at 1-877-926-8332.