Task Force Nabs Michael Defosses
Concord – United States Marshal Stephen Monier, District
of New Hampshire, Merrimack County Sheriff Chester Jordan, and
Manchester Police Chief John Jaskolka today announced the capture of
convicted sex offender Michael Defosses, age 41.
Defosses was wanted by the Merrimack County Sheriffs Office for
Failure to Appear on an underlying conviction for Aggravated
Felonious Sexual Assault. Defosses was also wanted by the Manchester
Police Department, for Failure to Register as a Sex Offender.
After investigators determined that Defosses had fled New Hampshire
in early 2005, the case was referred to the New Hampshire Joint
Fugitive Task Force. Defosses has been listed as one of New
Hampshire’s Most Wanted.
After an extensive investigation, Defosses was located and
arrested yesterday in Miami, Florida, where he was residing in
homeless shelters, and using the alias, Michael Anthony. He was
arrested without incident by Deputy U.S. Marshals and members of the
Miami Police Department.
Monier noted that New Hampshire Joint Fugitive Task Force, run by
the Concord office of the United States Marshal’s Service, is now
responsible for over 1000 captures in just four years of operation.
In addition to federal warrants, the task force assists state and
local law enforcement with fugitive cases meeting certain criteria.
“In the case of Mr. Defosses, we had an individual who had two
separate convictions for sexual assault, and had absconded shortly
after his release from incarceration” said U.S. Marshal Monier. He
added, “The unregistered and repeat sex offender is exactly the type
of individual that the Adam Walsh Act is meant to address”. |