New Garden Township Police said he was on run for months
By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times
Miguel Angel Vazquez, 33, of Kennett Square, is awaiting extradition to Pennsylvania from Texas on child sex-assault charges, New Garden Township Police said.
A Kennett Square fugitive wanted for the alleged sexual assault of a child was taken into custody in Texas on Monday, Nov. 4, New Garden Township Police said.
New Garden Township Police Chief Gerald R. Simpson said Miguel Angel Vazquez, 33, “bolted” when police in Alton, Texas, stopped a vehicle for suspicious activity on Monday night. After officers caught up with him on foot, they found the Pennsylvania charges, Simpson said, adding that Vazquez had eluded capture for months.
The criminal charges resulted from a sexual-assault investigation of a minor child that was reported in July 2012, police said. But Vazquez is also under investigation for a domestic-related kidnapping on March 12, police said. Simpson said federal authorities were consulted in that case because of jurisdictional issues that have not yet been resolved.
Since that time, investigators within and outside the region had been working to apprehend Vazquez, Simpson said. Vazquez will remain in custody in Texas pending extradition back to Pennsylvania, Simpson said.
In the alleged kidnapping case, police said a worker at the Chester County Crime Victims’ Center received a call on March 12 that a New Garden Township woman and her two children had been taken by Vazquez, the woman’s estranged husband, to North Carolina. The woman reported that her cell phone had been taken from her, but police were able to provide North Carolina authorities with a detailed description of Vazquez and his vehicle.
North Carolina police succeeded in locating Vazquez and rescuing the three victims, but Vazquez escaped, police said.
Simpson said he appreciated the cooperation among so many different law-enforcement agencies. “He was taking steps to evade capture,” Simpson said of Vazquez. “His luck finally ran out.”
