A fugitive child rapist who escaped by cutting off his ankle bracelet was apprehended at a motel in Norfolk, Virginia on Friday, WVEC.com reported.
U.S. Deputy Marshals found Eric Hartwell, who was convicted in 1991 for raping a child, at the motel on Military Highway. Hartwell, 51, refused to open the door to the Marshals. Authorities broke down the door and took Hartwell into custody.
Before he went on the lam, Hartwell was living at a halfway house in Denver, Colorado. Hartwell managed to cut off his GPS ankle bracelet and walked out of the halfway house last Friday. A felony warrant was issued for his arrest, WVEC.com reported.
"We have been relentlessly pursuing Hartwell, day and night, as he fled across the country," Chief Deputy Kenneth Deal said according to WVEC.com. "When a dangerous predator is on the loose we don't stop. Public safety is always our main concern."
Hartwell was at the halfway house on South Federal Boulevard since December 2013. He is described as a violent, sexual predator who is known to run from the law. Hartwell vanished in 2009 from another halfway house near Seattle. He was later found in Texas, WVEC.com reported.
In 1995 Hartwell picked up a pregnant hitchhiker in Washington, the same state where he was convicted of rape. The hitchhiker said Hartwell attempted to rape her.
"This is a guy who has a pretty dangerous past who's out there," 9NEWS Psychologist Dr. Max Wachtel told WVEC.com.
Marshals told WVEC.com that Hartwell failed several times to register as a sex offender between 2007 and 2009. He failed to do so again in 2011, and was sent to jail. He was granted parole in December and sent to the Denver halfway house where he escaped.
"Those are the patterns or behaviors of somebody who probably isn't feeling or showing a whole lot of remorse," Wachtel told WVEC.com.
