GUADALAJARA, Mexico - A 78-year-old US man serving prison time in Mexico for child sex abuse died Tuesday of an unspecified illness in a private hospital, officials said.
Thomas White, who was extradited from Thailand in 2005 and sentenced to seven years in prison in 2007, died in a private hospital in the Pacific coast town of Puerto Vallarta, said the Jalisco state prosecutor's office.
The prosecutor's office said in a statement that he died after ` "the aggravation of several illnesses from which he had suffered for a while".
White fled to Thailand in 2001 after Jalisco authorities sought his arrest for child rape and child pornography. He was arrested and subsequently extradited and sentenced for the rape of a minor in Puerto Vallarta.
He also faced a US extradition request, wanted by authorities in San Francisco for sexually abusing minors and child sex tourism.
Mexico is preparing to return his body to his relatives.