SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT PROBATION CHIEF HELPS NAB 1993 SCOFFLAW SILENCING WEDDING BELLS FOR OFFENDER

          Springfield District Court Chief Probation Officer John Morganstern employed his online detective skills to positively identify an offender who had been on the lam for 12 years. Offender Jose Pagan, granted a two-week stay by a Hampden Superior Court judge, skipped town in 1993 when he received a 3 to 5 year state prison sentence for drug charges.

          Morganstern had a hunch that Pagan was hiding something when he came into court recently to ask a judge to cut short a 10-day jail sentence he received so he could make his May 21 st nuptials. Pagan owed 10 days in a District Court case for a previous probation violation. The 10-day sentence was imposed following his arrest during a recent traffic stop.

          Almost immediately, something caught Morganstern’s attention. He noticed that Pagan had provided the court with a Florida address.

          "It was something about this case that bugged me. I just had this gut feeling I guess," said Morganstern.

          After logging onto the Interstate Compact and law enforcement record sites, Morganstern found two Jose Pagans with two sets of personal information, including two separate birth dates, two separate sets of parents, as well as two completely different social security numbers. Two things, however, stood out. Morganstern compared the two signatures from each file and found that they matched as did the booking photos from the District Court and Superior Court cases. The state trooper, who arrested Pagan in 1993, also came into court and positively identified him.

          Fingerprint verification was ordered. Before it could be administered, however, Pagan admitted that he was the same person from the 1993 case and the 3 to 5 year prison sentence from 12 years ago was imposed.