Friday, February 11, 2011

Sex offender arrested in Florida

By Paula J. Owen TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

A Fitchburg man on the state police 10 most-wanted sex offender
list was arrested Wednesday morning in Florida.

Robert H. Griggs Jr., 51, was arrested at the Green Wave Motel on
Palm Beach Boulevard in Fort Myers.

Mr. Griggs is a Level 3 sex offender wanted by the Fitchburg Police
Department for failure to register with the state as a sex offender. Mr.
Griggs is a multistate offender with a lengthy criminal history in
Massachusetts dating back more than 15 years, according to police.

In 1994, he was convicted in Massachusetts for open and gross
misconduct and lewd and lascivious behavior, and in 1995, he was

convicted in Texas for aggravated sexual assault on a child.

Deputies from the Lee County sheriff's office in Florida found Mr.
Griggs after Trooper Steve McDonald of the Massachusetts State
Police violent fugitive apprehension section learned he might be
staying at a motel on or near Palm Beach Boulevard, according to a
news release.

The state police initially learned that Mr. Griggs had fled Fitchburg
with his girlfriend for Cocoa, Fla., but later learned that he had left the
Cocoa area about a month ago, and that he and his girlfriend were
living at a series of motels. Mr. Griggs was booked at the Lee County
jail and is being held pending his rendition to Worcester County.

Mr. Griggs is classified as at a high risk of re-offending by the
Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry.

This is the second arrest in about a week of a Fitchburg man listed on
the 10 most-wanted sex offender list.

Child rapist Franklin D. (Campbell) Miller, 33, with a listed address of
466 Kimball St., Apt. 3L, Fitchburg, was arrested Feb. 3.

State police said Mr. Miller was arrested at a shelter on Stanhope
Street in Boston. He was eating lunch when state troopers found him
shortly before 1 p.m.

State police said their information indicated that he spent the night of
Feb. 2 at the home of a friend in Boston's Back Bay. He was taken to
Fitchburg District Court for arraignment.

Mr. Miller is charged with a subsequent offense of failing to register
with the state's sex offender registry.

He was convicted in 1997 of raping a child and has a five-page
criminal history.

Fitchburg Police Officer Brian Rouleau, in charge of the sex offender
registry for Fitchburg, called the state police violent fugitive
apprehension unit July 14 when he discovered Mr. Miller had moved
out of his apartment on Kimball Street a week before. He had not

registered with the state's sex offender registry at the time as
required by state law and had not provided police with a valid phone
number.

He is scheduled back in court March 3 for a pretrial hearing.

Mr. Griggs is the fourth member on the 10 most-wanted sex offender
list to be captured since the list was updated by state police and the
Sex Offender Registry Board last week.

Last week, Level 3 offenders Caesar J. Delgado and Steven M.
Hescock were arrested.

Mr. Delgado was arrested last Friday in Central Falls, R.I., after
Massachusetts State Police learned he was staying in an apartment
there. He is wanted by state police and the Lowell Police Department
on four counts each of rape of a child with force and indecent assault
and battery on a child under 14, and failure to register as a sex
offender. His registration is required by a 1999 conviction for indecent
assault on a child. He was previously arrested in October, but fled a
month later after cutting off his GPS monitoring bracelet.

Also last Friday, Mr. Hescock, 34, was captured by Massachusetts
troopers at a relative's house in Revere. He was wanted by Revere
police for failure to register as a sex offender and larceny, and by
Medford police for larceny. His registration as a sex offender is
required by a 1994 conviction for rape.