U.S. marshals arrested escaped convict David Hobson outside a grocery store in Rochester, N.H., at 6:15 p.m. in a vehicle driven by another person as he prepared to return to Sanford, police said.
Hobson has been the subject of a round-the-clock manhunt since he escaped from Carroll County Jail in Ossipee, N.H., Thursday by scaling a wall topped with razor wire. Police regarded Hobson as dangerous not only because of his escape and desperation, but because he had texted a threat to a former girlfriend.
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Hobson was arrested outside the Market Basket grocery store in Rochester, the same store where the former girlfriend had worked.
“Hobson needed a shower and some support after four days on the run, and as a result, his coming out of hiding ultimately led to his own capture,” said U.S. Marshal for Maine Noel March. “We took him completely by surprise and at gunpoint. He was not armed and did not resist.”
Hobson was surrounded by a number of deputy U.S. marshals, members of the Maine and New Hampshire violent offender task forces, who, as federal lawmen, have cross-border jurisdiction.
Sanford is separated from Rochester, N.H., by the town of Lebanon and is a short drive down routes 202 and 11. Hobson was arrested about two miles from the border on Route 125.
Police believe Hobson had spent most of his time at large in the Alfred-Sanford area, where he has family and where he could hide in woods with which he is familiar.
Hobson had apparently stolen his grandmother’s vehicle from one of the houses police searched on Monday. The grandmother is in Florida, police said.
Maine State Police Sgt. Robert Burke praised the cooperative effort of several police agencies working together, including the Maine State Police, the U.S. Marshal’s Service, the York County Sheriff’s Office and the Sanford Police.
Burke and other law enforcement officers had spent the day searching the Massabesic Experimental Forest in Alfred but then developed information about Hobson’s location. They arranged to capture him in a location where the public would not be put at risk if he put up a fight, Burke said.
“We developed this information and moved on it and effected the arrest within an hour,” Burke said.
Police were worried that Hobson was armed, but when he was captured he did not have a gun, Burke said.
Burke said the $1,000 reward offered by the U.S. Marshal’s Service was key.
“The reward was certainly a huge incentive in getting us into position to capture the fugitive,” he said.
Hobson was in custody and couldn’t be reached for comment.
Hobson escaped from an Ossipee, N.H., jail on Dec. 1 by scaling a razor-wire fence in the recreation yard, authorities said. Police believed he had a gun and appeared to hold a grudge against two people with whom he once had a personal relationship.
U.S. Marshal Noel March said the two were aware of the threats and were “in a safe place.” It’s unclear who the second person threatened was, although Hobson’s girlfriend has a young child whom Hobson fathered.
Hobson, 33, whose criminal record includes a series of burglary convictions, wasn’t targeting past victims, March said before the capture.
But one of those burglary victims said she had lived in fear of Hobson since he ransacked her home several times in 2005 looking for pain medication she takes for a disability. Hobson pleaded guilty in 2006 to more than a dozen burglaries, including one at the home of Lynne Mansur of Alfred, Maine.
Mansur told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the most valuable thing Hobson stole from her was her sense of security.
“I’m scared and shaking and sleeping with all sorts of things around me,” Mansur said, adding that she keeps knives, tear gas and an air horn near her bed. “I’m really thinking I just need to leave my house, and that’s not right.”
5:28 p.m.: A dozen canine teams join manhunt
ALFRED — Police say a dozen canine search teams have converged on the Massabesic Experimental Forest in Alfred in an effort to find escaped convict David Hobson.
Canine tracking teams from the Maine State Police, and from county sheriffs’ and local police departments are searching the heavily wooded area to look for the man who has been on the loose since he escaped from a jail in Ossipee, N.H., last Thursday.
Police say they have received tips from the public, and although there have not yet been any confirmed sightings of Hobson. they believe he’s still in the area. The U.S. Marshal’s Service believes Hobson is wearing dark clothing and a tan cap.
Police say Dobson has a gun and appears to hold a grudge against two people with whom he once had a personal relationship.
This morning, U.S. Marshal Noel March vowed that the 33-year-old Hobson would be caught.
“David Glenn Hobson is not Houdini and he’s not Whitey Bulger,” March said, referring to the famous escape artist and the notorious Boston mob boss who was on the lam for 16 years. “It’s important to point out this is not the manhunt of the century.”
March implored Hobson to turn himself in to end the stress on his family “and the anxiety he is causing the community at large.”
Homes belonging to Hobson’s relatives in the greater Alfred and Sanford areas in southern Maine have been searched and are being watched closely by law enforcement officials, March said. Relatives have been interviewed multiple times, he said.
12:34 p.m.: Marshal: Escapee has personal vendetta
The U.S. Marshal for Maine says the man who escaped from a New Hampshire jail has said the vendetta he intends to carry out against two people stems from a personal relationship.
U.S. Marshal Noel March says the two people David G. Hobson of Alfred, Maine, wants to harm are safe.
The 33-year-old Hobson escaped from an Ossipee, N.H., jail on Dec. 1 by scaling a fence. Police believe he has a gun.
March said Hobson is not Houdini or Whitey Bulger and he will be caught.
Aircraft have been buzzing overhead and dozens of heavily armed state troopers, deputy U.S. marshals and members of a violent-fugitive task force are searching for Hobson.
Hobson’s family is being questioned by police and have had their homes searched.
11:24 a.m.: Police enlist dog teams in hunt for fugitive
Police scouring York County for an escaped convict plan to bring in canine search teams from elsewhere in the state today.
State, county, local and federal authorities have been searching for David Hobson, 33, since he escaped from a New Hampshire jail Thursday by climbing over a fence topped with razor wire, cutting himself. Police believe he stole a car in New Hampshire and that he bought a change of clothes and medical supplies at a store.
Meanwhile, the U.S,. Marshal’s Service Fugitive Task Force has doubled its reward for information leading to Hobson’s capture to $1,000. Anyone with information is asked to call 780-3355 or, in an emergency, 911.
More than three dozen officers have been searching the woods in Sanford and Alfred, including an effort Monday to find Hobson in a heavily wooded area near New Dam Road in Sanford. Police determined Hobson had been in the area, behind the homes of relatives, but left before police arrived.
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