Fourth New Addition to Most Wanted Sex Offender List Captured

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MIGUEL VILLEGAS, who was added late last week to State Police list of Most Wanted Sex Offenders, was located and arrested today in New Jersey. VILLEGAS, 48, was captured after members of the Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section (VFAS) developed information that he might be in the Newark area.

VFAS troopers contacted the New Jersey State Police Fugitive Task Force. At approximately noon today, NJSP Fugitive Task Force officers located VILLEGAS walking on Central Avenue in Newark and took him into custody. He was booked at the Newark Police station and is being held in a county lockup until his arraignment as a fugitive from justice. He will eventually be rendited to Massachusetts to be arraigned and be processed as a sex offender.

VILLEGAS is the fourth of six wanted sex offenders to be captured since they were added to the Most Wanted list on July 22. He was wanted for two counts of failure to register as a sex offender, which he is required by law to do as a result of his 2003 conviction in Worcester County of two counts of rape of a child and single counts of indecent assault and battery on a child, dissemination of matter harmful to a minor, and open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior. The victim in that case was six years old.

Three other new additions to the list were taken into custody in recent days. REGGIE C. ELLENWOOD, 58, was arrested last Friday evening in Boston. SCOTT A. HALLE, 45, was arrested Sunday morning in Chelsea. PEDRO MUNOZ, 57, was arrested Monday afternoon in Philadelphia. The Massachusetts State Police continue to search for the two other fugitives added to the list last week for failing to register as sex offenders as required by their convictions for various sexual assault crimes.

The full list can be viewed at www.mspnews.org, or on the State Police web site’s VFAS page at www.mass.gov/eopss, or on the State Police Facebook page.

The State Police are seeking the public’s help in locating these fugitives, so that we can ensure they comply with the sexual offender registration law, which is a public safety measure that allows members of the public to be aware of high risk sex offenders who live or work near them. Anyone who has information about these fugitives or their whereabouts should call the Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section at 1-800-KAPTURE (1-800-527-8873).

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