Oprah Winfrey Nabs Sex Offender  10/10/05

Talk show queen Oprah Winfrey has been hailed a heroine after helping to trap a repeat child sex offender by posting a photo of the man on her daily TV program.

As part of a hard-hitting show about America's sex offenders, which aired in the US last Tuesday (04OCT05), Winfrey urged viewers to call the authorities if they recognized the photo of William C Davis.

Winfrey offered a $100,000 (#55,500) reward for information leading to the wanted sex offender's arrest.

A Minnesota viewer, Jean Rosenthal, recognized the convicted child molester as 'Mark', the neighbor of a friend, and called police.

Davis, 33, who faces felony charges of molesting three Indiana boys in 2004 and failing to register as a sex offender, was arrested by FBI officials on Thursday (06OCT05).

Rosenthal admits she was shocked when she discovered the true identity of her friend's neighbor because she had been helping to look after him following a car accident this summer (05), which left Davis with a broken leg.

She says, "I've been cooking for him and doing his laundry."

Winfrey hopes to score similar victories by posting pictures of a number of wanted sex offenders on her website, Oprah.com, and offering rewards for their capture.