LEWISTON – News 13’s Fugitive Files program will make its second appearance in Lewiston and Auburn tonight, attempting to round up three men on outstanding warrants on charges of carrying a concealed weapon, unlawful drug trafficking, operating under the influence, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct, among other charges.
Working in cooperation with Lewiston, Auburn and Androscoggin County police departments, News 13 staff will broadcast the identities of the men being sought by police, asking the viewing public’s help in finding the three, starting at 5 p.m.
Since Fugitive Files launched in 2006, police in Androscoggin, Cumberland and York counties have captured 22 of the 29 fugitives profiled on air, according to WGME Executive Producer Carrie Hopperstad.
Included in that number were four fugitives profiled in Lewiston last January: Earl Witten, Phillip Charles Witham, Andrew Leroy Peters and Raymond Dulac.
Witham, 42, and Witten, 52, each wanted on warrants for failure to register as sex offenders, and Dulac, 40, wanted on a warrant for violating bail conditions on two charges of unlawful sexual contact, were rounded up the evening of the News 13 broadcast.
A month later, one of the Lewiston’s most wanted fugitives was captured in Florida after being featured on another segment of Fugitive Files.
Antonio “Monk” Rembert, 30, wanted in connection with a stabbing in Lewiston in September 2006, was captured after police surrounded a house in Hollywood, Fla., after searching for him for months.
Then, in March, a Lewiston man wanted for trying to lure a teenager to a motel and who had also been featured on Fugitive Files was arrested in California. Adrian Saavedra, 24, was released from jail on bail and fled to California. In a routine traffic stop there, police discovered the Maine warrant charging Saavedra with violating the conditions of his release.
News 13’s Fugitive Files features suspects that local police identify as being wanted on outstanding warrants, including broadcasting their photos, criminal records and last known addresses, and anyone who has information on their whereabouts is asked to alert police. During each broadcast, police man a telephone bank to take those calls and have officers standing by to act on the tips they receive.
Fugitive Files, which began at the Maine station and has since expanded to more than 20 other television stations in the United States, has won public service awards from The Associated Press and the Maine Association of Broadcasters. According to Hopperstad, based on the success of the Maine model, Sinclair Broadcasting has instructed all of its affiliate stations to broadcast their own versions of Fugitive Files.
The local program will air today starting at 5 p.m. and run through News 13’s 6 p.m. broadcast. For more information on the program, including a list of fugitives who have been captured since this public service program began, go to wgme.com.
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