ESSEX COUNTY PROBATION OFFICERS HELP APPREHEND
ONE OF “AMERICA’S MOST WANTED”

Essex County Probation Officers were instrumental in the apprehension of a man featured recently on “America’s Most Wanted.”

Lynn District Court Probation Officers Kim Garbarino and Amy Simione provided the important details on offender Richard Malave Jr. to federal and local law enforcement authorities which led to the apprehension of the 28-year-old in Cambridge outside of a funeral home late last month.

Garbarino and Simione spent the past year painstakingly following leads on Malave’s whereabouts before Garbarino saw a death notice for Malave’s girlfriend’s father in Cambridge. The Probation Officers (PO’s) decided to sit outside of the funeral home just in case Malave showed up. During their one-year search for Malave, Garbarino and Simione attempted to get information from Malave’s mother, his sister who is on probation, and girlfriend –all of whom were uncooperative.

“Amy and I kept an eye on the girlfriend. At one point, we followed her to Cambridge hoping that he (Malave) would hop in her car,” said Garbarino who together with Simione spent countless hours tracking leads on his whereabouts, often working during lunch breaks, weekends, and evenings when they were not scheduled to go into the community.

Once the PO’s received information on the wake, they contacted the U.S. Marshals and formed a surveillance team-- which included U.S. Marshals from the New Hampshire Joint Fugitive Task Force and Cambridge Police -- to track down and apprehend Malave, 28. Malave had outstanding warrants out of Boston Municipal Court –Central; Lynn District Court; Essex Superior Court; and a warrant out of New Hampshire for first degree assault with a handgun (similar to attempted murder in Massachusetts). Among the Probation Officers on the scene were Garbarino, Simione, and Essex County Superior Court Probation Officer Jeffrey January.

“On the day of the wake and funeral, we sat outside of the funeral parlor several feet down the street with binoculars. When the services were over, we saw a man with a suit and sunglasses talking on a phone. He got into a car driven by another man.

Out of respect for those attending the funeral, we allowed him to drive away before the police pulled him over and took him into custody,” Garbarino recalled. “He was really surprised.”

“Our Probation Officers are to be commended for their dedication to this case and the hundreds of warrant cases they pursue. Because of their efforts, a violent individual has been taken off the street,” said Lynn District Court Chief Probation Officer Donald January.

Essex County Superior Court Chief Probation Officer Martin Wallace said of the apprehension, “The arrest of Richard Malave is an example of the cooperation between state and local law enforcement and how that cooperation resulted in the arrest of a very serious felon.”