He was captured on June 5, 2008, in San José de Gracia, Michoacán, Mexico after almost nine years on the run.

[5] After Schillaci was released from Rosharon prison[13] on July 30, 1999, he registered as a sex offender and moved into the Deerfield family's home in early August to start a new life in New Hampshire.

Schillaci reported to work the next day and in the afternoon he fled and left his computer and car near a bus station.

[2] After speaking with the boy, officials were able to determine that Schillaci had shown him child pornography and sexually abused him between three and seven times during his seven-week period in Deerfield.

[2][3] As a result, Schillaci was indicted on sexual assault charges on November 4, 1999, and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest a month later for failing to appear in court.

[15] Schillaci crossed the Mexico–United States border illegally and remained in Mexico until he was captured and deported, although he traveled within the country.

Marshals could arrive, Schillaci had fled, leaving behind allegations of improper sexual relationships with children in the town.

[3] Schillaci gained an online following in the underground pedophile community, and was described as a kingpin in the world of child pornography.

His networks helped him to avoid capture twice and gave financial support by donating money to his PayPal account.

[19] Schillaci was living in Guadalajara, Jalisco from approximately February 2003 until September 2006 under the alias Dylan Natchitoches Pierce.

[22] In 2004, Gregory Alec Phillips, a convicted sex offender from Tennessee, flew from Thailand to Mexico to meet a man he knew as Dylan Thomas.

[23] In 2005, as a part of a story filmed during the People v. Jackson trial, Dylan Thomas, a spokesman for the pedophile community, was interviewed by NBC News correspondent Josh Mankiewicz on a Mexican beach.

In 2007, Schillaci's activities under the alias "Dylan Thomas" caught the attention of volunteers on Wikisposure, now Evil Unveiled, a project of Perverted-Justice, which builds databases on pedophilia activists,[24] who began to investigate and monitor his activities as "Thomas" on the Internet.

[24] After being a fugitive for eight years, Schillaci was arrested in the town of San José de Gracia, Michoacán on June 5, 2008, without incident.

In county court, Judge Tina Nadeau ordered Schillaci held without bail and entered not-guilty pleas for him until he got a lawyer.

Schillaci awaited his trial in Rockingham County Jail and faced a life sentence because of his prior convictions.

According to prosecutors, they agreed to make a plea agreement because Schillaci's victim (now aged 15) was unwilling to testify and wanted to maintain his anonymity.

As a part of his plea bargain, Schillaci cooperated with federal authorities by offering to give a name of one person.

[15] The information has led to federal indictment of the person in question and rescue of one sexually abused child.

In order to be considered for parole, he would have to undergo a battery of sex offender treatment and other required programs.