Queen City Felon, Wanted On Theft, Parole Violation Warrant, Captured, Arrested: Follow-Up

CONCORD, NH — A New Hampshire Department of Corrections Fugitive of the Week, featured about two weeks ago, has been captured.

Dawn S. Russo, 47, a felon with convictions dating back more than 15 years, was wanted on a parole violation after being convicted of reckless conduct. She was also wanted on a theft charge. The warrant was issued by corrections in late May.

According to corrections, after being featured on Aug. 9, the department received a tip that led to her capture in Manchester on Aug. 16.

“Russo was apprehended without incident after one of the department’s probation parole officers, accompanied by officers from the Manchester Police Department and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, visited the residence and spoke to Russo,” according to a report.

Russo was held on preventative detention at the Hillsborough County House of Corrections, awaiting a parole revocation hearing.

Officials thanked by Manchester police and the county sheriff’s office for assisting.

Russo’s criminal history dates back to March 2007, when she was arrested on drug charges in Manchester, according to superior court records.

She pleaded guilty to controlled drug act and falsifying physical evidence charges in April 2008. Russo was charged with possession in July 2007 after incidents in Manchester and pleaded guilty to those charges.

In January 2014, she was accused of felony theft in Manchester and pleaded guilty 11 months later. Her sentence was amended in July 2019. In March 2014, she faced a felony criminal liability for the conduct of another-receiving stolen property charge in Auburn and pleaded guilty to the charge eight months later. Russo was also arrested on theft and willful concealment in Salem in January 2014, cocaine and heroin-crack sale charges in Epping in March 2014, and receiving stolen property and disobeying an officer in Bedford in April 2014, and two conspiracy theft charges in Hooksett in June 2014.

Two forgery and two receiving stolen property charges followed out of Manchester in April 2015, as well as a felony theft charge out of Concord. A guilty plea for the theft charge was made in January 2016, while guilty pleas for the forgeries were issued in February 2016. The property charges were nolle prossed. Russo had her sentence amended in July 2019.

In October 2015, she was also charged with theft in Derry from an incident 18 months before. She pleaded guilty to the charge later.

For Russo, 2018 was another busy year for criminal activity — including a drug charge in January in Manchester, criminal threatening, obstruction, two resisting, two first-degree assault, and two reckless conduct-deadly weapon charges in Barnstead, three theft charges in Hooksett in May, a May theft charge in both Bedford and Somersworth, two assault and two theft charges in May in Nashua, three drug charges in Manchester in July, and another theft charge out of Manchester in November.

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