New Bedford Probation Fugitive Taken Back Into Custody
Bristol County District Attorney’s Office
Thomas M. Quinn III
District Attorney
Press Release
June 25, 2019
One of the defendants listed on our Bristol County Most Wanted Fugitives List was taken back into custody yesterday in New Bedford, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.
The defendant, Daniel Ballem, 34, of New Bedford, cut off his GPS monitoring device and fled from the courthouse on June 17 after failing a drug test as part of his probation. An arrest warrant issued and police on Monday located and apprehended him on First Avenue in New Bedford. Members of DA Quinn’s State Police Unit, The Massachusetts State Police’s Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section and New Bedford Police are worked jointly to bring this defendant back into custody.
On August 14, 2013 at 12:30pm, New Bedford Police were notified that this defendant was in the area of Central Liquors and was in possession of a firearm. When police arrived, they found the defendant to be in possession of a fully loaded 9mm illegal handgun. After serving committed time for the crime, the defendant was arrested again in October of 2018 for malicious destruction of a motor vehicle in New Bedford. He was convicted of that charge in February 2019 and was placed on probation. He was in court on June 17 because he had allegedly violated the terms of his probation by missing scheduled drug screens.
For more information about the Bristol County Most Wanted Fugitives initiative and our anonymous Text-A-Tip Program, go to https://facebook.com/bristoldafugitives or https://bristolda.com/fugitives
“I’m very pleased with the rapid response in apprehending the defendant. The fact he cut off his GPS bracelet in court demonstrates that he was not a good risk to appear in court on his own,” District Attorney Quinn said. “Unfortunately electronic monitoring is not an effective deterrent in cases of this type. This case again illustrates that we will devote the resources to apprehending serious fugitives.”
Contact:
Gregg Miliote
Director of Communications
508-997-0711
774-292-9576–cell