Crime
The accused fugitive faces numerous charges, including child rape, sex trafficking, and indecent assault and battery.
A fugitive who allegedly trafficked children in Massachusetts was arrested in Nantucket, federal authorities said Friday.
Rigoberto Chavez-Regaldo, 40, was taken into custody early Thursday morning in connection with allegations “involving the trafficking of minors,” the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) for the District of Massachusetts said in a press release. His arrest was the result of a multi-agency coordinated effort involving federal, state, and local law enforcement.
Chavez-Regaldo was charged in Plymouth County with two counts of sexual conduct for a fee, two counts of trafficking a person for sexual servitude, and one count each of aggravated rape causing serious bodily injury, aggravated statutory rape of a child, rape of a child with force, indecent assault and battery on a person over 14, selling or delivering liquor to a person under 21, and enticing a child under 16. He was arraigned Thursday in Brockton District Court, authorities said.
The alleged criminal activity is said to have occurred in Brockton and “elsewhere in Eastern Massachusetts,” according to the USMS. Authorities searched the area for Chavez-Regaldo before eventually locating him and arresting him without incident.
“Allegations concerning the sexual exploitation and trafficking of children are arguably the most disturbing we encounter,” said Dennis Matulewicz, head of the USMS for the District of Massachusetts. “Protecting young people from predators is our highest obligation as a society, and the USMS and our law enforcement partners will use every resource at our disposal to pursue anyone who preys on them.”
The USMS declined to release additional details about the allegations against Chavez-Regaldo “in order to protect the privacy of the minor victims involved.” Though Brockton was the only city specified as to where the alleged trafficking happened, local police departments in Boston, Cambridge, Chicopee, Haverhill, Lowell, New Bedford, Quincy, Randolph, Rochester, Springfield, West Springfield, and Worcester were all involved in the investigation.
Chavez-Regaldo is being held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing as requested by the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office, according to the USMS. He is due back in court Tuesday.
Attorney information for Chavez-Regaldo was not immediately available Sunday morning.
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