Hot on his heels, the New Hampshire Department of Corrections' most-wanted man, Cory Michael Watts, has been nabbed in Springfield, Massachusetts. Putting an end to the week-long manhunt that had local law enforcement on high alert according to MassLive.
Watts, 54, with a rap sheet that includes kidnapping and alleged sexual assault, was collared without a scratch on November 21, after a tipster dropped the dime, leading a pack of determined deputies armed with a warrant; they converged on his location through a coordinated effort, along with the Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section and the U.S. Marshals Service, who have been working tirelessly the Newport Dispatch reported.
Labeled the "Fugitive of the Week" May 31, Watts was the poster boy for the Department of Corrections' public appeal for capturing absconders, a part of a campaign launched back in March that calls on civilians to provide tips through various communication channels.
Officials showered praise on the seamless coordination between multiple agencies, including the Springfield Police Department Firearms Investigation Unit and both New Hampshire and Massachusetts districts of the Joint Fugitive Task Forces, that tracked down the elusive Watts after he ghosted his probation officers and reneged on the terms of his four-year probation for a Class B felony kidnapping conviction according to the combined efforts of both state agencies and the keen work by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, which was celebrated by the New Hampshire Department of Corrections in gratitude.
With Watts now in the clink, the Department of Corrections is looking ahead, ever vigilant, and the program, which has turned hump day into "hunt day," continues to seek public assistance through the New Hampshire Information and Analysis Center, dishing out new fugitives profiles every Wednesday.
