A routine speeding stop on South Broadway in the Village of Red Hook ended a fugitive run that stretched back nearly two decades, after police discovered the driver was wanted on a felony sexual abuse warrant issued by the White Plains Police Department in 2007. The driver, identified as 50-year-old Jose Tacuri of Wappingers Falls, was taken into custody once officers determined he matched the outstanding warrant.
According to 101.5 WPDH, a Red Hook police officer pulled over a vehicle for speeding around 12:50 p.m. last Thursday. What began as a routine traffic citation quickly escalated when the officer ran the driver's information and found Tacuri was wanted on a felony warrant tied to a first-degree sexual abuse charge dating back to 2007. Investigators say Tacuri had obtained a New York State driver's license using an altered name and date of birth, and Red Hook police charged him with criminal possession of a forged instrument, along with forgery and misdemeanor false personation.
Under New York Penal Law § 130.65, first-degree sexual abuse is a Class D violent felony carrying up to seven years in state prison and mandatory sex offender registration upon conviction. That is the charge Tacuri was arrested on in 2007 in White Plains, before he fled the country and the case could be prosecuted. He had posted cash bail following that arrest, but his whereabouts remained unknown to authorities until last week's traffic stop in Red Hook.
How a 19-Year-Old Warrant Stayed Alive
The gap between Tacuri's 2007 arrest and his 2026 capture might seem to run up against the clock on prosecution, but it does not. Under New York Criminal Procedure Law § 30.10(4)(a)(i), the statute of limitations for a felony charge is tolled for any period a defendant continuously resides outside the state, meaning the clock effectively paused the moment Tacuri left the country and did not resume until he came back. Police believe Tacuri later returned to the United States, though authorities did not say how long he had allegedly been back, nor how long he had allegedly lived in Wappingers Falls before the stop.
The forged instrument charge Tacuri now faces in Dutchess County is itself a felony. Per New York Penal Law § 170.25, criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree — which covers a fraudulently altered state driver's license — is a Class D felony punishable by up to seven years in prison. The misdemeanor false personation charge, meanwhile, falls under Penal Law § 190.23 and applies when someone intentionally misrepresents their identity or birth date to police during an official investigation, carrying a maximum of 90 days in jail, according to the New York Desk Appearance Ticket Lawyer resource on the statute.
From Red Hook to Westchester Custody
Red Hook police processed Tacuri locally on the new charges before turning him over to the White Plains Police Department's Warrant Squad, the unit tasked with coordinating extraditions and taking custody of wanted felony suspects picked up elsewhere in the state, according to the Daily Voice. From there, he was remanded to the Westchester County Jail in connection with the 2007 case, per police, where defendants held on outstanding sex abuse warrants are typically kept pending arraignment in Westchester County Court or White Plains City Court, as the New Rochelle Patch reports.
It is unclear whether Tacuri will face additional bail jumping charges tied to skipping town after posting cash bail in 2007. Under New York Penal Law § 215.56, a defendant released on bail for a felony who fails to appear in court within 30 days of the required date commits bail jumping in the second degree, a Class E felony punishable by up to four years in prison — potential exposure that would run alongside, not in place of, the original sex abuse case.
A Wider Pattern of Warrant Sweeps
The case adds to a string of long-dormant fugitive arrests across the Hudson Valley this year. Hoodline previously reported on a Bronx robbery suspect caught in the Poconos, part of heightened fugitive recovery efforts tied to the FBI's Summer Heat 2.0 initiative, which has pushed regional agencies operating out of White Plains to clear cold-case warrant files across Westchester and Dutchess counties.
Geographically, the case spans a fairly compact stretch of the Hudson Valley. Wappingers Falls sits roughly 45 miles north of White Plains, where the original warrant was issued, while Red Hook — where the speeding stop unfolded on South Broadway, also known as U.S. Route 9 — lies about 35 miles further north, per Rome2Rio. Village police there routinely run speed enforcement along that same commercial corridor, the kind of stop that regularly triggers electronic checks against state and national warrant databases, according to The Daily Catch.
For now, Tacuri remains in custody in Westchester County as both cases move forward. Authorities have not disclosed further details on how long he evaded capture domestically once he returned to the U.S., leaving that piece of the timeline unresolved.
