Maine Police Arrest Maricopa County Arizona Fugitive
By DOUG HARLOW
Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
WATERVILLE -- Police on Thursday arrested a fugitive from Maricopa County, Arizona who is wanted for prosecution in that state on charges of violent sexual conduct with a child and attempted child molestation.
Michael Anthony "Tony" Saragosa, 27, is to be extradited back to Maricopa County, Arizona, where he also is on probation for a previous criminal conviction. An alert for Saragosa's arrest and extradition had been posted on the National Crime Information Center.
Saragosa also is charged with escape by Waterville police after he jumped from a second-story porch on Water Street, clamored down a steep embankment and dove into the frigid Kennebec River, according to Waterville Police Chief John Morris.
"It's clear to me they don't understand hypothermia in Arizona," Morris said. "That water was cold."
He said the drama began to unfold at about 1 p.m. during a routine search warrant for drugs at 137 Water St.
"We were conducting what was to be a low level search warrant," Morris said. "During the interview with three men at the residence, a hit came back on NCIC on Michael Saragosa."
He said that when officers Andy York and Bill Bonney attempted to take Saragosa into custody he jumped over a railing on the second floor of the apartment building and bolted across the street, down the embankment and into the river.
"He started to swim across the river, but police coaxed him back," Morris said. "He made the right decision and returned to the shore shaking violently from the cold. Two more feet (into the river) and the current would have swept him away and we would have been fishing him out of the river right now instead of taking him to jail."
Saragosa suffered either a broken nose or a face laceration from branches and debris as he headed for the river, Morris said. Saragosa later was taken to a local hospital for observation before going to the Kennebec County jail in Augusta.
Officers Bonney and York each suffered minor cuts during the arrest.
Morris credited the South End Neighborhood Association for providing the information that led to the drug search warrant in the first place. It was the second time in recent weeks that the association pointed police in the direction of suspected drug dealers.
Members of the Kennebec Valley Drug Task Force recovered some marijuana, drug paraphrenalia, prescription amphetamines and traces of the narcotic Vicodin. Charges are pending, but no arrests were made Thursday, Morris said.
