New York/Washington
- When convicted child molester Rabbi Alan Horowitz was arrested on
May 22, at a seaside resort in southern India, it concluded the most
far-flung and exotic fugitive investigation ever conducted by the
U.S. Marshals Service. Like former lawman Kenneth Freeman - who had
fled to China to avoid charges of raping his young daughter and
posting the scenes on the internet - Horowitz now sits in a foreign
jail cell awaiting return to the U.S. to face justice.
Both men were tracked down by
investigators at the U.S. Marshals Service and the State
Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security.
Horowitz, an ordained Orthodox Rabbi
and ivy league-educated child psychologist, was convicted of 34
counts of child molestation in Schenectady County, New York. He may
have imported illegal materials into the prison where he was serving
time – extending his sentence, and previously he had been convicted
of “perverted sexual practices” in Maryland. During the 1980s, while
living in Israel, police launched an investigation into charges that
Horowitz was sexually abusing some of his second wife’s children. He
fled back to the United States. Even earlier in his life, he faced a
similar investigation while living in North Carolina.
Most recently, he fled New York state
parole in 2006, but continued to use internet communications while
hiding in India. “To locate him we used a network of tipsters and
some of the most extensive electronic surveillance techniques we’ve
ever employed,” said Deputy U.S. Marshal Gary Mattison (Northern
District of New York). Mattison was the case Deputy assigned to work
alongside New York authorities.
When it came time for the actual
arrest, special agents of the State Department stepped in.
“Diplomatic Security’s regional offices in India maintain an
excellent working relationship with local law enforcement,” said
Greg Starr, Director of State Department’s Diplomatic Security
Service. “That type of close, worldwide capability gave us an
unparalleled ability to help apprehend this fugitive.”
Horowitz was on the run from
authorities for 11-months in a global manhunt. He was arrested by
local police in Mahabalipuram, India. Authorities now are
determining the most effective approach for returning him to law
enforcement in the U.S. Last year, U.S. Marshals completed almost
500 fugitive extraditions and deportations. The federal charge
against Horowitz, “unlawful flight to avoid prosecution,” was based
on state parole violation warrants related to his 13-year
imprisonment for sexual molestation of minors.
Earlier this month, the successful
working relationship between U.S. Marshals, Diplomatic Security, and
other federal agencies was credited with the arrest of Kenneth
Freeman at a Hong Kong bus station. Freeman, one of the Marshals “15
Most Wanted Fugitives,” was accused of child pornography and rape.
He was an avid competitive bodybuilder, computer expert, and former
reserve sheriff’s deputy.
Information about other fugitives -
such as accused murderer and child molester Daniel William Hiers,
Jr. - may be obtained at
www.usmarshals.gov. For more information about the international
law enforcement work of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, please
see www.state.gov/m/ds. |