Friday, Apr. 22, 2005

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N.H. fugitive caught in Peachtree City

By LEE WILLIAMS
lwilliams@TheCitizenNews.com

A clean shaven look, false name and a new home state were not enough to fool agents of the Southern Regional Fugitive Task Force in hot pursuit of an accused child sex offender wanted out of New Hampshire.

Agents arrested 57-year-old Bruce Melvin Tuttle of Farmingdale, ME, on Tuesday at the Aberdeen Conference Center construction site in Peachtree City. He was held in the Fayette County Jail pending an extradition hearing.

Tuttle is wanted by Strafford County, N.H., sheriff’s officials for 19 counts of aggravated sexual assault involving two female children, said Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine State Police.

“Tuttle was reported missing by his wife on March 18,” McCausland said.

But the official hunt for Tuttle began March 23 after he failed to show up for his arraignment in Strafford County Superior Court in Dover, N.H., U.S. Marshals Inspector James Ergas said.

Tuttle's indictments charge him with aggravated sexual assault involving two girls under 13 between 1997 and 2002 in Rochester and Strafford, N.H., officials said.

“On March 27, Tuttle left Portsmouth, N.H., by bus,” Ergas said. “Leads developed by the U.S. Marshals Service and the Strafford County Sheriff’s Department led them to believe that Tuttle was in the Virginia Beach, Va., area. Investigators then learned that Tuttle had stolen the identity documents of his dead brother-in-law, Donald Hoyt. Hoyt died in 1971.”

New Hampshire investigators also learned Tuttle, a former Rochester, N.H. resident and Vietnam War veteran, told associates he was heading south to see “old war buddies.”

New Hampshire Marshals officials forwarded that lead to the Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force. Task Force agents discovered a Georgia identification card recently had been issued to a Donald Hoyt whose identifiers matched those for the deceased Hoyt.

But the ID card was not for Hoyt, it was for Tuttle, authorities said.

“The ID picture was Tuttle without glasses, without the mustache and with a new hair style” Ergas said.

Agents interviewed a family Tuttle was staying with on Tuesday morning. The family unknowingly took the fugitive in and was trying to help him get back on his feet.

After staying with the family for several days, Tuttle found refuge at the Salvation Army shelter in Griffin, authorities said.

“After interviewing shelter staff, investigators learned that Tuttle was working as day laborer for a temporary employment agency,” Ergas said. “Investigators then interviewed the employment agency and were able to determine that Tuttle was on a nearby job site using the name Donald Hoyt.”

Agents took Tuttle into custody about 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Officials recovered a box cutter and a Georgia identification card for Donald Hoyt from Tuttle. Agents also retrieved a Greyhound bus ticket which showed Tuttle arrived in Atlanta March 30.