Academy trainee turns out to be a fugitive

[KBCraig]

Hey, Gaoler... see what you left behind?

Fugitive arrested while training to be jail guard

NEWPORT, Vt. (AP) — A New Hampshire man arrested in Vermont as a fugitive from justice was one week short of completing a five-week course to become a guard for the state Department of Corrections, offi cials said.

Daren Gragg, 31, was using the name of Michael Finney and had been hired to work at the Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport, officials said.

Corrections Commissioner Rob Hofmann said Gragg’s “wholly manufactured identity” helped hide his real background.

“We have to learn more about the case,” Hofmann said. “Was it identity theft or identity construction?”

Deputy U.S. Marshal Brian Hughes of the Concord, office said Gragg, as Finney, had completed four weeks of training at the Vermont Corrections Academy and had one week to go.

Gragg’s wife, Toni, 36, was arrested Tuesday in Newport Center on multiple New Hampshire warrants.

Hughes said the service received a number of calls about the couple after their photos appeared Tuesday morning on the front page of the Caledonian Record newspaper, which circulates in northeastern Vermont and parts of northern New Hampshire. Officials wouldn’t say what caused them to believe the Graggs were in the area.

After his arrest, Daren Gragg was taken to the state prison in Concord. Toni Gragg is being held in Vermont as a fugitive from justice in New Hampshire.

In 1997, Daren Gragg was suspected to be leader of a Derry-based street gang called Impact. He was jailed on charges that he beat a teenager and forced him into a cold refrigerator. The assault conviction stems from his firing a shotgun loaded at a teenager in Manchester.

[COintheWoods]

Originally Posted by KBCraig

Hey, Gaoler... see what you left behind?

Fugitive arrested while training to be jail guard

NEWPORT, Vt. (AP) — A New Hampshire man arrested in Vermont as a fugitive from justice was one week short of completing a five-week course to become a guard for the state Department of Corrections, offi cials said.

Daren Gragg, 31, was using the name of Michael Finney and had been hired to work at the Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport, officials said.

Corrections Commissioner Rob Hofmann said Gragg’s “wholly manufactured identity” helped hide his real background.

“We have to learn more about the case,” Hofmann said. “Was it identity theft or identity construction?”

Deputy U.S. Marshal Brian Hughes of the Concord, office said Gragg, as Finney, had completed four weeks of training at the Vermont Corrections Academy and had one week to go.

Gragg’s wife, Toni, 36, was arrested Tuesday in Newport Center on multiple New Hampshire warrants.

Hughes said the service received a number of calls about the couple after their photos appeared Tuesday morning on the front page of the Caledonian Record newspaper, which circulates in northeastern Vermont and parts of northern New Hampshire. Officials wouldn’t say what caused them to believe the Graggs were in the area.

After his arrest, Daren Gragg was taken to the state prison in Concord. Toni Gragg is being held in Vermont as a fugitive from justice in New Hampshire.

In 1997, Daren Gragg was suspected to be leader of a Derry-based street gang called Impact. He was jailed on charges that he beat a teenager and forced him into a cold refrigerator. The assault conviction stems from his firing a shotgun loaded at a teenager in Manchester.

0_o I guess Vermont didn't even do a NCIC check...Not to mention, the State Police would have had the info w/ Pictures (they generally circulate that sort of information between NH and VT, we got a lot of emails re: NH fugitives when I worked for SP dispatch) so if the DOC had just had a trooper meet with the recruit it probably would have been caught earlier...

When I had been hired on there, there was no background investigation through the state police. In fact, I never had to fill out a background investigation packet nor was I contacted by anyone, and for that matter, I don't recall seeing any NCIC paperwork. But I had a background interview and my background investigated when I started with the State Police dispatch -- a position where information security was the biggest issue, and one where you couldn't even remotely be considered "law enforcement." Guess VT will have to up its hiring practices now, though, eh?

[cellsearch]

With all that training he'll make one heck of an inmate.Guess Vermont should step up it's BI process.

[COintheWoods]

Originally Posted by cellsearch

With all that training he'll make one heck of an inmate.Guess Vermont should step up it's BI process.

Considering that there isn't one...they just check to make sure you're not in their database (just the DOC database, not NCIC or anything), they don't bother with background checks beyond that.

[cellsearch]

Wowthat is insane.I am speechless.

[Gaoler]

I'm speechless. That is just....crazy. Atleast it wasn't at my old facility.

[shakedownshorti]

Never a dull moment with this job huh?