A high-risk Houston sex offender on electronic monitoring has escaped from an east Houston halfway house and is being sought by authorities.

Michael Elbert Young, 42, was last seen at the Southeast Texas Transitional Center on 10950 Beaumont Highway around 9:50 p.m. Thursday night. He climbed over a barbed wire-topped fence and discarded his GPS tracking ankle monitor.

Young is 5 feet 6 inches tall, 150 pounds, and was last seen wearing a dark blue t- shirt, blue jeans and a dark blue baseball cap.

He has friends and family in and around the Houston area. Young may be mentally unstable, a condition possibly aggravated when not taking medication. Young is not known to be armed but has had a history of using weapons, primarily knives, during previous assaults.

Do not attempt to apprehend him yourself; call 911.

Young has several tattoos: “South Park for Life” on right upper arm; “Evelyn” on neck; “Mom” on right chest; “Audra” on left chest; numerous incision scars on left wrist.

He served eight years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) for Aggravated Assault, and Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, with both charges carrying a sexual element. Young also spent 20 years in the TDCJ for Sexual Assault of a Child and Attempted Aggravated Sexual Assault.

For additional photos showing tattoos, see http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/director_staff/public_information/pr040612photos.htm