Concord Escapee, Convicted Felon And Stalker, Caught In Manchester: Follow-Up

CONCORD, NH — The New Hampshire Department of Corrections has a recent escapee in custody.

The department said Jake Demeritt, a convicted stalker and felon with a lengthy criminal history, was captured in Manchester Saturday. He had been missing since April 10, when he was accused of not returning to a North End Transitional Housing Unit on North State Street in Concord after working on Silk Farm Road earlier that day.

Corrections officials said Demeritt was found “following a call from a concerned citizen.” He is being held in the Hillsborough County Department of Corrections. Demeritt could have been paroled in June; his maximum release date was June 2026.

Corrections thanked Manchester police for their assistance with the case.

Demeritt’s criminal history dates back about 12 years after he was charged with acts prohibited in Concord. The charges were initially nolle prossed, but three years later, he pleaded guilty to a single count. While that case was going on, in April 2013, he was accused of four more counts of acts prohibited. One charge was dismissed while he pleaded guilty to three other charges.

In Salem, in October 2014, he was picked up for habitual offender and drug transportation and pleaded guilty to both charges in June 2015. Also, in June 2015, Demeritt pleaded guilty to a contraband charge out of Boscawen. He pleaded guilty again to a contraband charge out of Brentwood in November 2021.

A couple of years later, he was accused of acts prohibited in Hooksett. He pleaded guilty to a single count in April 2018, receiving a suspended sentence. He was accused of violating a court order, but the charge was vacated in August 2019.

In Manchester in August 2020, he was accused of drug possession and stalking and pleaded guilty to the drug charge. According to court filings, he pleaded guilty to violating probation or parole in this case in January 2023.

2022 was a busy year for Demeritt, racking up stalking, drug possession, and three felony receiving stolen property charges in Manchester from May, a receiving stolen property charge in Manchester in June, and receiving stolen property out of Manchester in July. He pleaded guilty to stalking and receiving stolen property charges in October 2023.

Demeritt was accused of felony theft out of Londonderry from May 2022. He was indicted earlier this month and was scheduled to be arraigned in Rockingham County Superior Court on May 22.

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