© 2026 Kansas City Public Radio
NPR in Kansas City
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Missouri man who was once on FBI most-wanted list pleads guilty to sex crimes

A Missouri man pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal child sex trafficking charge. Donald Fields will be sentenced at the Eagleton courthouse, pictured in July 2023.
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
A Missouri man pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal child sex trafficking charge. Donald Fields will be sentenced at the Eagleton courthouse, pictured in July 2023.

Donald Fields was indicted in 2022 but not arrested until 2025. He also faces multiple state charges including child rape and molestation.

A Missouri man who was once on the FBI's Most Wanted list has pleaded guilty to child sex trafficking.

Donald Fields II, 61, admitted Thursday that between 2013 and 2016, he allowed a friend access to the teenage victim in exchange for gifts, including cash, a car and motorcycle, and vacations. He will be sentenced in July.

Federal prosecutors initially filed the case in 2022, then added a charge in 2023. Fields remained on the run until he was pulled over during a routine traffic stop outside Orlando, Florida, in 2025.

Fields' co-defendant, Theodore Sartori Sr., was arrested in 2022 and eventually pleaded guilty to traveling to Florida to engage in sexual activity with the teenager. Sartori was sentenced to 10 years in prison, a sentence he is appealing as unreasonable.

Fields also faces multiple state charges including child molestation, rape and witness tampering in Franklin County, southwest of St. Louis. Prosecutors there did not return phone calls asking how the outcome of the federal case might impact the state proceedings.

The victim in the federal case is among the victims in the Franklin County case.

Copyright 2026 St. Louis Public Radio

Rachel Lippmann covers courts, public safety and city politics for St. Louis Public Radio.
KCUR is here for Kansas City, because Kansas City is here for KCUR.

Your support makes KCUR's work possible — from reporting that keeps officials accountable, to storytelling that connects our community. You can make sure the future of local journalism is strong.