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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
FOR INFORMATION CONTACT: |
August 11, 2008 |
Nelson Hackmaster, Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal
Waco Division (254) 750-1570 |
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The Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force
Arrests Fugitive Little League Coach |
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Waco,
TX – The United States Marshals Service sponsored Lone Star Fugitive
Task Force (LSFTF) announces the arrests of 31 year old William Thomas
Jacobsen and 57 year old Marilyn McQueen Wesson. Jacobsen was wanted for
Aggravated Sexual Assault on a Child.
Jacobsen was a little-league baseball coach in the Little River-Academy
area, as well as a volunteer firefighter, for the Little River Academy Fire
Department. The investigation of Jacobsen was initiated when a 13-year-old
boy made an outcry of a sexual assault against him at the Scott and White
Hospital in Temple, on 06/10/2008. The 13-year-old stated that the sexual
assaults began in mid-2007 and continued until June of 2008. During the
ensuing investigation, three more children came forward, accusing Jacobsen
of assaulting them as well.
On 06/21/2008, before warrants could be issued for his arrest, Jacobsen fled
the central Texas area with his wife, Marilyn Wesson. It was initially
believed that the couple fled to the Houston/Galveston area.
On 06/27/2008, the Bell County Sheriffs Office, Criminal Investigations
Division, requested assistance from the LSFTF in tracking down the fugitive
couple, who had fled the central Texas area. Deputy US Marshals assumed the
case and began to follow investigative leads. When it was discovered that
Wesson pawned some jewelry in a Laredo Pawnshop on July 1st, Deputy US
Marshals also discovered that the couple has crossed the Port of Entry into
Laredo from Mexico on that same day. Once it was determined that Wesson was
actively assisting and funding Jacobsen’s flight, the Bell County District
Attorneys Office also charged Wesson with Hindering Apprehension of a
fugitive, and a warrant was issued for her arrest as well. The US Marshals
Service also charged Jacobsen with Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution.
After following numerous leads, and exhausting every investigative resource,
Deputy US Marshals developed information that confirmed the couple was in
the Mexican town of Nuevo Laredo, just across the border from Laredo, TX.
Working closely with the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force members
from the Laredo US Marshals Office, Deputy US Marshals developed a plan to
ruse the couple out of hiding. Deputy US Marshals in Laredo worked closely
with Mexican State of Tamaulipas Police to determine the exact location of
the couple and make an arrest.
On 08/09/2008, the Mexican State of Tamaulipas Police arrested Jacobsen and
Wesson in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico and the couple was expelled from Mexico after
Immigration Authorities determined the couple had no legal status to remain
in Mexico. Both subjects will be extradited back to central Texas to face
charges.
The United States Marshal for the Western District of Texas, LaFayette
Collins said, crimes committed against children are intolerable and the US
Marshals Service will stop at nothing to put these offenders behind bars
where they belong. |
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