A Tier III sex offender who had just been released from prison less than two months ago was captured hiding in a Hillsboro residence Thursday morning after fleeing law enforcement officers in Greenfield.
Greenfield Police Chief Jeremiah Oyer said his department received notification from other law enforcement agencies stating that they had reason to believe Windle Ray Tackett, 49, who was supposed to be residing in Lima, may be working at an auto repair shop on Milburn Street in Greenfield.
Oyer said upon receiving the information he went to the reported location and found a man who matched Tackett’s description standing in the street in front of an auto repair shop.
“I called him by name, he stopped and turned around, then he took off running,” Oyer said.
The police chief said he, along with deputies from the Highland County Sheriff’s Office, pursued the suspect through a wooded area off of Taylor Street, through three or four fields, then lost him near a creek in a wooded area along railroad tracks.
“Apparently he circled back around and got a ride to Hillsboro somehow,” Oyer said.
Hillsboro Police Chief Steve Browder said his department received a call from the Greenfield Police Department and Adult Parole Authority at 11:13 a.m. Thursday requesting that officers check a residence in the 500 block of East Walnut Street to see if Tackett might be located there.
Browder said officers surrounded the home and then went inside where they found Tackett hiding in a bedroom. Browder said Tackett complied once officers entered the bedroom and that he was taken into custody without incident.
Tackett was convicted of sexual battery in August of 2013, was sentenced to three years in prison, and was released on March 28 of this year, according to online records.
Browder said there was an arrest warrant out on Tackett that called for him to be picked up anywhere in the United States.
Tackett was transported to the Highland County Justice Center in Hillsboro.
The most severe sex offenders are given a Tier III designation. They are subject to lifetime address registration and must verify the address every 90 days. This tier includes sex offenses that range from rape, sexual battery and murder with sexual motivation, to kidnapping of a minor to engage in sexual activity, to unlawful death or termination of pregnancy as a result of committing a felony with sexual motivation.
Reach Jeff Gilliland at 937-402-2522 or on Twitter @13gillilandj.
