Anonymous tips led to the arrest of New Hampshire “Fugitive of the week” Wesley Barkley in South Carolina.
Barkley, 32, was arrested without incident by the U.S. Marshals fugitive task force at a residence on Foxfire Road in Cowpens, S.C., according to the U.S. Marshals Service in Concord.
Barkley, is now in custody at the Spartanburg County Jail as a fugitive from justice based on the outstanding N.H. warrant. Barkley is expected to return to New Hampshire in the near future, the Marshals said.
As part of the “Fugitive of the Week” poster, the Marshals include multiple ways to communicate with investigators in an effort to develop information on these fugitives. Since 2014, one method is through anonymous emails and text messages through a system developed by the company, Citizen Observer called Tip411. It was through that anonymous messaging service that the task force received a half dozen tips pointing investigators to Barkley’s location in South Carolina. The anonymous messaging service has proved itself countless times as an invaluable tool for the NH Joint Fugitive Task Force, the Marshals said.
Barkley was featured as the “Fugitive of the Week” on April 18. Barkley was wanted on an outstanding Rockingham County arrest warrant for failure to appear on a charge of assault on a minor. The wanted poster also indicated that Barkley had an extensive criminal history, had been known to resist arrest and may carry a handcuff key on his person, according to the Marshals.
The “Fugitive of the Week” had been aired on WTPL-FM, WMUR-TV, The Union Leader, The Nashua Telegraph, The Patch, Foster’s Daily Democrat, Manchester Information, the Manchester Ink Link and prominently featured on the internet. The “Fugitive of the Week” has been a very successful tool that has resulted in the location and arrest of numerous fugitives since its implementation in 2007, the Marshals said. Additionally, the “Fugitive of the Week” is distributed statewide to all law enforcement officers.
If you have any information about the location of a New Hampshire fugitive, please don’t hesitate to contact the NH Joint Fugitive Task Force anonymously at: WEB-TIP or TEXT the word NHTIP followed by any information to the phone number TIP411, the Marshals said.