CONCORD, NH – On April 6 the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force, along with officers from the Manchester Police Department, located and arrested two wanted sex offenders in Manchester. Both sex offenders were wanted for sex offender registration violations.
Peggy Hale, 58, was arrested at a residence in the 400 block of Lincoln Street in Manchester.
Erik Van Winkle, 35, was located and arrested by the Marshals Fugitive Task Force and Manchester Police at a business on Elm Street in downtown Manchester.
Peggy Hale is required to maintain her sex offender registration as a result of a conviction and sentence she received in Hillsborough County Superior Court for aggravated felonious sexual assault in December of 1992. Erik Van Winkle is required to register as a sex offender as a result of his August, 2007 conviction for two counts of prohibited use of computer services with the victim being under 16 years of age.
Both Hale and Van Winkle were brought to the Manchester Police Department for booking and holding on their outstanding arrest warrants. These arrests were a cooperative effort made by members of the U.S. Marshals – N.H. Joint Fugitive Task Force and the Manchester Police Department.
The U.S. Marshals Sex Offender Investigations Branch (SOIB) was created in July 2006, following the passage of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act (AWA). The SOIB’s role is to carry out the U.S. Marshals Service responsibilities in connection with the AWA including: assisting state, local, tribal and territorial authorities in the location and apprehension of non-compliant and fugitive sex offenders, as well as Investigate violations of the Adam Walsh Act for federal prosecution. “This partnership between the U.S. Marshals SOIB and local law enforcement has been a great tool in helping to enforce the laws that were designed to protect our children from the level 3 sex offenders that are the most likely to offend again,” said U.S. Marshals Senior Inspector Mark Lewis.
