U.S. Marshals Locate Child Predator, Transport him from Santo Domingo to Miami

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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


U.S. Marshals Locate Child Predator, Transport him from Santo Domingo to Miami: Caribbean-Wide Search Nets Sexually Violent Pennsylvania Fugitive

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.