Des Moines, IA – After nearly six years on the run, a Des
Moines man who faked his own death and fled the state to avoid a trial
on child pornography charges is back in custody. U.S. Marshals
in the Southern District of Iowa, working with the U.S. Marshals Montana
Violent Offender Task Force, and U.S. Marshals in the Western District
of Washington, on Monday found and arrested Jacob Greer, 28, in
Spanaway, Washington.Greer is currently at the Federal Detention
Center in Seattle and he will be brought to Des Moines to stand trial.
In April 2016 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers
arrested Greer on charges of receipt and possession of child
pornography. He was released on bond the next day under pretrial
supervision with an ankle monitor and was living with his grandmother in
Des Moines.On May 31, 2016, Greer’s U.S. Probation Officer
received a monitoring alert indicating Greer’s GPS device had been
removed. A multiagency search effort ensued, and Greer’s vehicle was
found with a suicide note inside of it. However, searchers did not find
Greer’s body. A federal arrest warrant for Greer was issued that day.
On June 8, 2016, the U.S. Forestry Service located another
vehicle associated with Greer in Tuchuck Campground in Flathead,
Montana, but Greer was not there. Investigators discovered Greer had
purchased the car with a $1,000 loan from a friend and that he had fled
Iowa with money, a bow, arrows and a backpack full of survival gear. Greer was last seen at a Wal-Mart in Kalispell, Montana, June 3,
2016, wearing a camouflage hat. Through additional interviews,
investigators learned Greer was a survivalist and had plans to live off
the land in remote areas of the upper western states or southern Canada,
hiding out in abandoned cabins.“The arrest of Jacob Greer after
six years is a testament to the tenacity of Deputy U.S. Marshals and our
investigative partners,” said U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of
Iowa Ted Kamatchus. “Even though the case went cold, they would not
quit.”
Additional information about the U.S. Marshals Service can be found
at http://www.usmarshals.gov.
####America’s
First Federal Law Enforcement Agency