American on the the run from pedophile charges arrested in Koh Samui
Koh Samui Police have tracked down and arrested an American man wanted back in his home country on pedophile charges.
A fugitive American pedophile suspect was apprehended on a southern Thai island after he’d been hiding in Thailand for a year, reportedly taking teaching jobs around the country.
Jackson Matthew Hall was captured at the Nar Ton Pier on Koh Samui on Friday evening. The 26-year-old man from the US state of Alabama had fled prosecution on multiple counts of child sex abuse. He had been using a passport belonging to an associate back in the United States named Tyler Doran Smith. He entered Thailand on Oct. 6, 2016, and had worked as an English teacher at schools in Rayong and Khon Kaen provinces, according to Lt. Col. Nutthorn Praosunthorn.
His alleged exploits and anecdotes from people who claimed to encounter Hall around Thailand collected on a blog detailed what they described as his attempts to misrepresent his identity, invent stories about military service to explain his secrecy and sometimes explosive jealousy.
Hall’s name came up in domestic media back in March when South African Darron Beetge reported his ex-wife Nittaya Polsripim missing. He only knew that Nittaya disappeared after she had started dating a man named Tyler Smith, who was later discovered to be Hall.
Police said it was Nittaya, who they found in Bangkok, who led them to finding Hall on Samui. Lt. Col. Nutthorn said he did not know if she would be charged for harboring a fugitive.
Hall was indicted with multiple child abuse, rape and sodomy charges in 2014. He escaped from his home country while on bail to avoid prosecution in 2015.
Back in 2015, Hall was arrested after refusing to surrender to police following his indictment on rape and sodomy charges, according to a newspaper in his home state of Alabama. The paper said he had a “lengthy criminal history” and had been accused of exposing himself to and charged with aggravated child abuse.
Source: Khaosod
