On April 23, 2008, convicted rapist and Level III Sex Offender David J. Torrence absconded
from Washington State Department of Corrections supervision and became a fugitive. Torrence, a man with a history of Failing to Register as a Sex Offender, decided that 3 days of supervision was enough and fled after being released from prison on April 20, 2008. Torrence had been serving a sentence for a previous Failure to Register conviction. Upon his release from prison, Torrence was fitted with a GPS device and was living under an overpass in Snohomish County. Torrence removed the GPS device before fleeing the area. Torrence was required to register as a Sex Offender after being convicted of Rape in 1995. In that case, Torrence abducted and raped a young girl in Everett, WA.

The Washington State Department of Corrections immediately issued an escape warrant for
Torrence’s arrest and requested assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service sponsored Pacific
Northwest Fugitive Apprehension Task Force (PNWFAT) in locating and apprehending Torrence.
PNWFAT investigators quickly developed information, with the help of multiple law enforcement
agencies that Torrence may have fled to a family residence in Arkansas. A collateral lead was sent to the U.S. Marshals Service office in El Dorado, Arkansas and deputy U.S. Marshals immediately began to search for, locate and apprehend Torrence.

This morning Deputy U.S. Marshals and local law enforcement officers developed information that Torrence was aware he was being sought in Stephens and was planning to flee to another location. Instead of continuing to run, Torrence was apparently convinced by family members that he would never be able to escape and instead Torrence made the determination to self-surrender to the Sheriff’s Office in Ouchita County, Arkansas.

Torrence will be extradited back to Washington State on the Department of Corrections
warrant, and faces potential federal charges of Failure to Register as a Sex Offender under the
recently passed Adam Walsh Act. “The self-surrender of Mr. Torrence demonstrates the continued dedication of all local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in making sure that dangerous sexual predators, and those who flaunt our sexual registration laws, will be taken off the streets,’’ said new U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Washington W.J. Hawe. “The U.S. Marshals Service and the entire national law enforcement community are united to ensure that these types of criminals are apprehended and made to answer for their crimes,” Hawe added.

The PNWFAT is a U.S. Marshals-sponsored partnership comprised of investigators from the
King County Sheriff's Office, Seattle Police Department, Social Security Administration Office of
the Inspector General, Washington State Department of Corrections and the U.S. Marshals Service. The Task Force is supported by the Project Safe Neighborhoods Initiative and was formed to concentrate apprehension efforts to remove federal, state and local fugitives from the streets. The Task Force objective is to disrupt illegal gang, gun and drug activity in the Pacific Northwest and to reduce the amount of violence in the region.

For additional information on other major case fugitives, go to the U.S. Marshals Service’s
website at www.usmarshals.gov or U.S. Marshal’s Western Washington website at
www.usmarshals.gov/district/wa-w. For additional information on the Project Safe Neighborhoods
(PSN) Initiative, go to the PSN website at www.psn.gov.