U.S. marshals are looking for a Dominican man who disappeared after a 14-year-old girl testified against him at his sex crimes trial in Montgomery County.
Investigators said Regulo Vasquez skipped out on the rest of the proceedings and immediately fled to his home country.
Now, he appears to have recently returned to the D.C. area, and marshals deputies are turning to the public to help find him.
“We’ve been working this case for a long time and will not stop until he is taken into custody,” said Matt Burke of the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force.
Vasquez was arrested in January 2004 after the girl told a Springbrook High School counselor that a relative had been molesting her and forcing her to perform sex acts.
She moved back to the Dominican Republic to live with her mother. The teenage victim returned in 2005 to testify against Vasquez, who was living in Silver Spring at the time.
After she took the stand, Vasquez skipped out on the trial. He was found guilty in absentia by the Montgomery County Circuit Court jury on several charges including sex abuse of a minor. He faces up to 125 years in prison.
Marshals say Vasquez, now 48, may have returned to the area, and authorities are turning to the public to help find him.
Vasquez is listed as 5-foot-10 and 195 pounds. He has ties to Silver Spring, Rockville and the Hyattsville area.
Anyone with information should contact the task force at 301-489-1717.
Since 2009, readers of The Washington Examiner have been credited by federal authorities with the capture of 40 fugitives, including murderers, kidnappers, child sex offenders, rapists and scam artists.
At least eight captured fugitives were wanted on a charge of homicide or had previously been convicted of it.
Last month, readers called in with information that led to the arrest of a man wanted in a 1997 homicide and two gang members wanted in the slaying of a rival in Northwest Washington.
The Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force run by the U.S. Marshals Service is composed of 30 federal, state and local agencies from Baltimore to Norfolk. The unit has captured more than 33,000 fugitives since its creation ins 2004.
