SALISBURY — A 35-year-old man was arrested just before Christmas in the New Orleans area for being a fugitive from sex offense charges here.

Records show Uriel Andrade Cruz was jailed Thursday for being a fugitive. He’s awaiting extradition back to Rowan County to face Kannapolis sex offenses.

Kannapolis Police obtained warrants in late September charging Cruz with statutory rape by an adult and statutory sex offense of a child by an adult. Just days earlier, on Sept. 25, Cruz was arrested on Rowan County Sheriff’s Office charges of statutory rape of a child, four counts of indecent liberties with a child and two counts of felony child abuse-sexual act.

The Kannapolis and Rowan County charges involve two different girls.

On the Sheriff’s Office charges, Cruz posted a $120,000 bail before leaving the area. Rowan County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy David Ramsey said Cruz’s location was unknown until the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation got involved this month.

Cruz was found in a suburb of New Orleans and booked into the Jefferson Parish Jail.