After crashing his car into a river in upstate New York and pulling a gun on a witness, police were able to apprehend the Southbridge fugitive Gregory Lewis accused of committing at least six sexual assaults during a cross-country spree over the last month.
Lewis, 26, was taken into custody just before midnight on Tuesday in the Village of Fort Edward, New York – 50 miles northwest of Massachusetts near the Vermont border. According to Massachusetts State Police, a New York State Police trooper observed Lewis driving with missing license plates on his car and, when he tried to stop the car, Lewis fled.
A short time later, police received 911 calls reporting that a car had crashed into a river in the Village of Fort Edward.
“Preliminary reports indicate that Lewis emerged from his sinking vehicle and brandished a gun at a witness who had heard the crash,” police said. “Officers responding to the 911 calls located Lewis at the crash scene and took him into custody.”
Lewis has been on the run since Sept. 15 when he cut off his GPS monitoring bracelet, which he was required to wear as a condition of his release after being arraigned in Dudley District Court on charges relating to the alleged sexual assault of a 13-year-old Southbridge girl over the summer.
Police recovered a handgun from Lewis, matching the description of one Lewis is accused of stealing from his stepfather when he returned to Southbridge in September and attacked him. The car, though still underwater when police arrived, apparently roughly matches the description of the blue Jeep Grand Cherokee police have said Lewis has been using to travel around the country.
Lewis, the number one fugitive on the Massachusetts State Police’s Most Wanted List, is wanted in several states, including North Carolina, Colorado, Oregon and Indiana, is connection with a series of alleged rapes, kidnappings and robberies of female escorts.
According to earlier updates from police, Lewis was arranging meetings with women working for escort services in local hotels rooms then handcuffing them, threatening them with a gun, robbing and sexually assaulting them.
Lewis will be held without bail overnight in Washington County, New York and will be arraigned tomorrow on a fugitive from justice charge. Massachusetts State Police have said they will seek rendition to bring him back to stand trial on the charges he faces in the Southbridge incidents. He has been indicted by a Worcester County grand jury on those charges.
The local investigation into his flight from justice was led by the Massachusetts State Police and the Southbridge Police Department. The state police’s Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section also worked the case around the clock.
Police have said they’ll release more details about Lewis arrest “when appropriate,” likely later on Wednesday.
source:masslive.com
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