Marshals Catch Two NH Fugitives

Two more fugitives were taken off the streets yesterday due to tips made in recent New Hampshire Fugitive of the Week features, according to Deputy Marshal Jeffrey White.

Laura Ritchie, 25, and Michael Masterson, 27, were both arrested in two different locations of New England, about 100 miles apart.

Ritchie has been on the lam since April of this year when she reportedly failed to appear at the arraignment of a sale of a controlled drug (heroin) charge in a school zone in Newport Superior Court. She fled New Hampshire and Vermont to an unknown location in New Jersey in 2014, according to tips marshals received.

“Efforts were continuing to locate Ritchie in NJ, when a series of anonymous tips came in to the US Marshals on Monday morning,” according to White. “These tips indicated that Ritchie had returned to Springfield, VT, to visit her mother for the holidays.”

Marshals went to Vermont and along with the Springfield VT Police Department, located Ritchie at her mother’s house where she was arrested without incident. She was held without bail by Springfield Police on a fugitive from justice charge and she will be sent back to New Hampshire to answer to a warrant for heroin sales out of Sullivan County.

Masterson, an allegedly armed and dangerous gang member, was last week’s fugitive of the week, on a warrant out of Rockingham County for a probation violation after being convicted of burglary. The feature led to “multiple” tips about his being in a home on Collins Street in Ashland. Yesterday morning, marshals along with police officers from Ashland and Plymouth went to the home and arrested him.

“Masterson was located inside the residence with his hair dyed blond in an effort to disguise his appearance, he was arrested without incident,” White noted. “Masterson was turned over to local authorities pending his return to the Rockingham County Jail to serve his sentence.”

Task Force members from Strafford, Rockingham, and Belknap counties also assisted with the arrests.