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Michigan Sex Offender Arrested In North Carolina

Posted at 12:34 PM, Jun 12, 2013
and last updated 2013-06-12 13:10:45-04

Tracy Dean McdonaldGRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – 45-Year-Old Tracy Dean McDonald is wanted for failing to register as a sex offender as required and moving out-of-state without updating his registration.  This is a violation of the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection Act. McDonald is also wanted by the Michigan State Police in Gaylord for not maintaining his sex offender registration under state law.  He is wanted by the Antrim County Sheriff’s Department for larceny.  McDonald is also a Michigan State Police 10 Most Wanted Sex Offender.

Investigators from the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force have been looking for McDonald since November of 2012, and local law enforcement since 2011. The Marshals Fugitive Task Force in Grand Rapids conducted a lengthy fugitive investigation and developed information McDonald was traveling the United States with his girlfriend and working as migrant labor. McDonald and his girlfriend, Joyce Jannereth (also a fugitive), are suspected of committing numerous crimes in several states over the last year. These alleged crimes include numerous stolen vehicles and several high-speed chases with police.

Surveillance was established by the Bladen County (N.C.) Sheriff’s Office Tuesday after the USMS Fugitive Task Force provided them with information that McDonald was working at a blueberry farm in Garland, N.C. officers observed McDonald get into a stolen GMC Yukon with Jannereth. The duo then led police on a five mile high-speed chase in which a police helicopter proved to be a deciding advantage for officers. The pair eventually crashed their vehicle during the flight and were apprehended by officers from the sheriff’s office. No one was injured in the pursuit.

McDonald and Jannereth are currently being held at the Bladen County Jail in Elizabethtown, N.C., awaiting their initial appearances in federal and state court in the Eastern District of North Carolina.