(AKRON, Ohio) – According to officers with the Norton Police Department, a wanted sex offender featured by Attorney General Mike DeWine is now in the Summit County Jail.
Norton detectives, along with the U.S. Marshal’s Northern Ohio Fugitive Task Force, and the Akron Police Department arrested Timothy Jackson, 39, of Akron, on Thursday after receiving a tip about his whereabouts.
Jackson, a habitual sex offender, was wanted on a January 2012 warrant for failing to verify his address. According to police, Jackson was convicted in 2001 of Gross Sexual Imposition with a 4-year-old victim. On March 12, 2012, the Attorney General issued a plea to the public for help finding the suspect as part of his Crimes Against Children Initiative. The initiative publicizes convicted sex offenders who have victimized children and are wanted on outstanding warrants.
“In less than ten days, the public has helped local law enforcement officers in Springfield, Cincinnati, and now Akron track down three of our featured wanted sex offenders,” said Attorney General DeWine. “I think this shows that our community members are very serious about keeping tabs on offenders who have victimized children in the past, so it doesn’t happen again in the future.”
Norton Police Chief Thad Hete said investigators developed information that led them to find Jackson living at an address on East South Street in Akron. He had previously registered his address as homeless.
Hete said Jackson had been eluding authorities by using his brother’s name and information. He said his officers were initially looking for the suspect on drug charges, but quickly intensified their search when they read the Attorney General’s alert.
“The drug possession charges pale in comparison to the victimization of a child,” said Hete. “Certainly, once we saw the information from the Attorney General’s Office it ramped up our efforts to locate the subject, and his case immediately went to the top of our list.”
Both Attorney General DeWine and Chief Hete praise all the law enforcement agencies that helped track down the suspect.
Other measures taken as part of the Attorney General’s Crimes Against Children Initiative include the establishment of a Crimes Against Children Unit at the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, creation of a rapid response team for crimes against children, and specialized law enforcement training through BCI and the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy (OPOTA).
Previous News Release, March 2012
Media Contacts:
Dan Tierney: 614-466-3840
Jill Del Greco: 614-466-3840