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An accused child rapist from Leominster, who was added to the Massachusetts State Police list of Most Wanted fugitives last month, was captured yesterday in Aurora, Illinois after the MSP’s Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section tracked him to a location there.
ZION P. VASQUEZ, 31, is wanted by the MSP and Leominster Police as a suspect in multiple sexual assaults against a child, who was under age 10, over an extended period. Leominster Police obtained a warrant for his arrest in 2013, but upon learning of the investigation targeting him, VAZQUEZ fled. The Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section (MSP VFAS) began working with Leominster to find him, and on June 20 added him to the MSP Most Wanted list.
Following VAZQUEZ’s addition to the Most Wanted list, MSP VFAS received several anonymous tips. Further investigation by Trooper Thiago Miranda led him to learn of the existence of an abandoned house with an attached garage, where VAZQUEZ was possibly working as an independent mechanic. Trooper Miranda then narrowed the location of the garage to Plain Avenue in Aurora, Illinois, and contacted the United States Marshal’s Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force for assistance.
Yesterday, an officer assigned to that Task Force was conducting surveillance of the location and observed a man matching VAZQUEZ’s description arrive around 2 p.m. Task Force officers approached the man, positively identified him as VAZQUEZ, and took him into custody without incident. Officers transported VAZQUEZ to the Kane County Adult Justice Center in St. Charles, Illinois, where he be arraigned as a fugitive from justice and await rendition to Worcester County to stand trial on the child rape charges.
