FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
CONTACTS: |
August 24, 2007 |
Deputy U.S. Marshal Bryant Semenza
Eastern/Pennsylvania (267) 716-1781;
Deputy U.S. Marshal Alberto Hidalgo
Southern/Florida (305) 536-5346;
U.S. Marshals Public Affairs (202) 307-9065;
Deputy Sheriff Phil Gipprich
Berks County, PA Sheriff (610) 478-6391 |
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U.S. Marshals Locate Child Predator,
Transport him from Santo Domingo to Miami:
Caribbean-Wide Search Nets Sexually
Violent Pennsylvania Fugitive |
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Miami, FL
– While waiting for his morning bus ride to downtown Santo Domingo
this week, Miguel A. Gonzalez Jr., was pinpointed by Deputy U.S.
Marshals and arrested by members of the Dominican Republic’s elite
fugitive hunting squad. This afternoon, the U.S. Deputies -- now
operating from a special new outpost there -- escorted Gonzalez from
Santo Domingo to Miami. Gonzalez faces proceedings to return him to
Reading, Pennsylvania, where he has been convicted of sexual
assaults against two young girls.
The Marshals and Pennsylvania’s Berks County Sheriffs Office had
sought Gonzalez for five years. “Not a week has passed since 2002,
without those girls’ parents checking on our progress with this
case,” says Assistant Chief Deputy Sheriff Philip Gipprich. “Hats
off to the Marshals for catching him. Children in both nations are
safer with Gonzalez behind bars,” he said. Gonzalez faces sentences
of 21-40 years for the two convictions.
The fugitive case had been featured on television’s America’s Most
Wanted program, and on special websites that help law enforcement
find violent criminals who are on the lam. The tips leading to
Gonzalez’ arrest were phoned in directly to the Dominican Republic’s
fugitive squad.
Gonzalez, who lived in Reading, jumped a $600,000 bail in the summer
of 2002. The two subsequent trials were conducted without him
present, and both juries convicted him of indecent assault. The
judge declared him a sexually violent predator.
The Marshals traced Gonzalez to various Caribbean locales, including
Puerto Rico. At first, he was accompanied by his wife and two
children, but his family returned to Reading six months later, and
Bethany Gonzalez served a brief sentence for aiding in his escape.
At United States Marshals headquarters in Washington, the agency’s
international fugitive hunting section is part of the Investigative
Services Division (ISD). Recognizing that large numbers of
individuals charged or convicted of violent crimes in the U.S. were
fleeing to Mexico and the Caribbean basin, ISD began training and
working with criminal investigators in agencies like the Direccion
Nacional Control de Drogas (DNCD) in the Dominican Republic. Over
the last three years, Deputy Marshals established offices alongside
U.S. embassies there, in Kingston, Jamaica, and in Mexico City. DNCD
fugitive unit officers arrested Gonzalez on Tuesday. That action,
combined with others achieved by the three new field offices, help
the U.S. Marshals Service capture more fugitives than all other
federal law enforcement agencies combined.
Additional information about the U.S. Marshals can be found at
http://www.usmarshals.gov. |
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