For Immediate Release - October 10, 2008

Two Most Wanted Sex Offenders Arrested

Three of the State's Top Ten Most Wanted Sex Offenders Now in Custody

One of the state's most wanted sex offenders was arrested this morning in Texas after Massachusetts State Police and the United States Marshals Service directed local police to the house were he was hiding. Additionally, a second sex offender walked into Clinton District Court and surrendered this morning. Today's arrests bring to three the number of sex offenders on the current Top Ten Most Wanted list - which was released earlier this week - who have been taken off the street.

Police in Lake Jackson, Texas, this morning took ERIC CONALTY, 38 (D.O.B. 2/ 10/70) into custody after they found him sleeping on a couch in his parent's home. Local police were directed to the house after troopers assigned to the Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section (VFAS) and deputy US marshals determined that CONALTY was living there.

CONALTY is wanted on warrants out of Essex County charging him with committing unnatural acts with a child under 16 and failure to register as a sex offender. He was classified as a High Risk Level 3 sex offender by the Sex Offender Registry Board (SORB) following his 2000 conviction in Lawrence District Court for indecent assault and battery on a child and contributing to the delinquency of a child.

CONALTY'S arrest was set in motion after State Police VFAS troopers developed information in recent weeks that revealed he had been traveling up and down the East Coast under an alias. VFAS later determined that in June CONALTY had gone to stay at his parents' home in Lake Jackson, Texas. Evidence suggests that CONALTY was trying to not show his face in public.

After his arrest, CONALTY was transported to the Brazos County Jail pending rendition, which is being arranged by the Essex County, Mass., District Attorney's Office. CONALTY was added to the state's list of Most Wanted Sex Offenders in December 2006.

Another of the state's Most Wanted sex offenders, SHAYNE SAMPSON, turned himself in at Clinton District Court this morning. SAMPSON, 48 (D.O.B. 3/1/60), is wanted in Worcester County for violating conditions of his probation from a prior conviction for indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, disseminating obscene material to a minor, and open and gross lewdness. He is also wanted by Clinton Police Department for violating the Abuse Prevention Act and by the Worcester Police Department for failure to register as a sex offender. State Police and SORB, which had classified SAMPSON as a High Risk Level 3 sex offender, added him to their Most Wanted Sex Offenders list this week. SAMPSON was placed into the custody of the Worcester County Sheriff's Department and will be prosecuted by the Worcester County District Attorney's Office.

Another High Risk Level 3 offender on state's Most Wanted list, EDWARD BUENO, 34 (D.O.B. 2/26/74), was captured Aug. 28 in Portsmouth, Virginia, after an investigation by the State Police VFAS, US Marshals, and authorities in Virginia and Florida. BUENO was wanted in Essex County for fleeing the state after his conviction for statutory rape and indecent assault and battery on a child, and also for failure to register as a sex offender. He has been returned to Massachusetts for prosecution by the Essex District Attorney.

State Police and SORB state's newest Most Wanted Sex Offender list earlier this week. In addition to CONALTY, SAMPSON and BUENO, the list included these High Risk Level 3 offenders:

  • RYAN E. LOVELL, 24, previously convicted for assault and battery on a child and currently wanted for failure to register as a sex offender;
  • WILLIAM E. HARVEY 3d, 43, previously convicted for rape of child and currently wanted for failure to register as a sex offender and violating the Abuse Prevention Act;
  • STEVEN M. COOPER, 41, previously convicted of rape and currently wanted for failure to register as a sex offender and rape;
  • JELANI K. BAKER, 28, previously convicted of indecent assault and battery on a child and lewd and lascivious conduct and currently wanted for failure to register as a sex offender, lewd and lascivious conduct; carrying a dangerous weapon; and drug offenses;
  • JOSE A. DAVILA, 38, previously convicted of statutory rape and indecent assault and battery on a child and currently wanted for failure to register as a sex offender and trespassing;
  • ANGEL MARTINEZ, 42, previously convicted of rape of a child, indecent assault and battery, and posing a child in the nude and currently wanted for failure to register as a sex offender, statutory rape of a child, and posing a child in the nude; and
  • ANTHONY D. SIMMONS, 38, previously convicted of indecent assault and battery on a child and currently wanted for failure to register as a sex offender and violating his probation from his previous conviction.
The list can be viewed at www.mass.gov/msp/wanted/sexoffenders/wanted-sexoffenders.htm.

The release of the new Most Wanted list followed closely the completion of "Operation Offender," a three-month joint State Police-SORB effort that resulted in the arrest, registration or location of 737 previously unregistered sex offenders. From June through August, VFAS troopers arrested 117 unregistered sex offenders throughout Massachusetts - most of them Level 3 and Level 2 offenders and those who had deliberately attempted to evade the registration requirement. Troopers also located and registered another 224 unregistered offenders. Additionally, VFAS determined that another 396 sex offenders were either deceased, incarcerated, or had moved to another state or been deported. Throughout all of this year, State Police have arrested, registered or located as deceased or incarcerated nearly 1,000 sex offenders.