Previous NH Fugitive Sex Offender Pleads Guilty to Registration Charge

CONCORD, NH — A convicted sexual assaulter from the Bay State has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on a failure to register charge after not registering with police in Massachusetts after he moved there earlier this year, according to a press statement from U.S. Attorney Emily Gray Rice. Beau Shields, 29, of Barre, MA, pleaded guilty to the charge on Oct. 31, 2016.

“According to court documents and statements made in court, Shields moved from New Hampshire to Massachusetts sometime before April 2016,” Rice said in a statement. “Shields never registered in Massachusetts until after he was charged by the grand jury in New Hampshire. On two occasions, in April 2016 and July 2016, Shields reported his address as a residence located in Barre, MA. Shields was not registered as a sex offender in Massachusetts at the time he reported that he was living at the residence in Barre.”

The federal Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act requires a person who is required to register to notify entities in the jurisdiction where a person resides, is employed, or going to school. The act gives sex offenders three days to register.

Shields will be sentence in February 2017.

According to HomeFacts.com, Shields – who is 29 – was convicted in 2009 in Hillsborough County Superior Court-South of two counts of felonious sexual assault against a victim under 16 but over 13 with a difference of more than three years. He was reported as homeless in Nashua earlier this year, according to the site. The website sorarchive.com, which also tracks sex offenders, had Shields’ last known address to be listed in Merrimack.

Shields was also a previous New Hampshire Fugitive of the Week in 2011, after failing to register with Merrimack Police in March 2011. At that time, according to U.S. Marshals, Shields had a lengthy criminal record including bail jumping, simple assault, disobeying a police officer, theft by unauthorized taking, criminal trespass, and driving after suspension. He was caught in January 2012.