2 Unnamed girls - XX yo - / Accused: John Joseph Hartin Orlando FL / Boston MA

Fugitive child-rape suspect sought by FBI in Central Florida


Massachusetts man on run for 18 years


By Henry Pierson Curtis, Orlando Sentinel
4:23 p.m. EST, February 29, 2012

John Joseph Hartin has been on the run since 1993 and may be hiding in
Central Florida from charges of raping two children in Boston, the FBI said Wednesday.

Hartin disappeared after being charged with five counts of statutory rape of a child.

Now authorities are using traditional media — as well as social media —to
seek the public's help in finding the 42-year-old suspect.

They also released a computer-enhanced image of what Hartin might look like today.

A federal arrest warrant was issued in 1997 for unlawful flight to avoid
prosecution. FBI believes he might be living in Central Florida after a
recent tip that he may have been seen in Orlando where he has relatives.
He also has family members living in Land O' Lakes, near Tampa,
according to FBI spokesman David Couvertier.

Described as
5-feet-8 with brown hair and brown eyes, Hartin weighed 200 pounds and
worked as a security guard in Massachusetts before he fled the state.

A Dorchester, Mass.-resident, Hartin studied graphic and computer arts in college. The FBI considers him armed and dangerous.

The FBI successfully used Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
last year to arrest James "Whitey" Bulger, the accused Boston mob boss
who had been a fugitive from murder charges for 16 years.

Bulger, who also was accused of corrupting FBI agents in Boston, was arrested
in Santa Monica, Calif. Digital billboards featuring Hartin's photo will
run for one week in Orlando, Tampa and Boson, according to the FBI.
They were unveiled on Monday.

The FBI said the 433,000 combined
followers of the agency's own Twitter and Facebook account have already
been alerted about the search for Hartin.

The FBI is offering up to a $25,000 reward for information leading to Hartin's arrest.

Anyone with information is asked to call 1--800-CALL-FBI.

Sure hope one of our readers knows this man and turns him in.