PORT ANGELES — A convicted sex offender from New York is awaiting a trial date in U.S. District Court in Seattle after being arrested in Port Angeles last month.
Daniel Jay Saggese, 44, is being held at Federal Detention Center-SeaTac, about 12 miles south of Seattle, after Port Angeles police apprehended him Sept. 9, Port Angeles police said in a statement.
A federal grand jury indicted Saggese on a single count of failure to register and update sex-offender registration in late September, and Saggese pleaded not guilty to the charge Oct. 5.
If Saggese goes to trial and is found guilty, he faces a mandatory federal jail sentence of 27 to 36 months, said Port Angeles Deputy Police Chief Brian S. Smith.
The U.S. Marshals Service had been helping Suffolk County, N.Y., authorities look for Saggese after he fled from his registered address at temporary sex-offender housing in Suffolk County on Feb. 13 of this year, according to court documents filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
Saggese was wanted for investigation of one count of failure to register and update sex-offender registration, which is a federal offense if a sex offender crosses state lines and fails to re-register.
Saggese was required to register as a sex offender after being convicted of first-degree sexual abuse against a 14-year-old victim April 30, 2006, in New York, according to court records.
Saggese was sentenced to five years in prison.
Using cellphone records, investigators with the Marshals Service tracked Saggese across the country and found he had stopped in New Mexico, Texas, Arizona and, as of May 12 of this year, Port Angeles.
On Sept. 7, the Marshals Service visited Port Angeles to conduct interviews in the search of Saggese, according to court documents, and showed his picture to employees at the Bella Rosa Coffee House, 403 S. Lincoln St.
Employees there said Saggese had been coming to the coffee house for at least two months “at the beginning of summer, as soon as the weather started getting nice,” Senior U.S. Marshals Inspector Brian Allen wrote in the formal complaint filed in federal District Court.
As part of this investigation, the Marshals Service confirmed that Saggese had not registered as a sex offender in Clallam County or anywhere in Washington state after coming to Port Angeles.
The Marshals Service left a picture of Saggese with the employees of Bella Rosa Coffee House and, on Sept. 9, staff members there called 9-1-1 after spotting Saggese entering the coffee house.
Port Angeles police were able to confirm Saggese’s identity after speaking with him, though Saggese gave a false name.
Saggese then fled the coffee house, leading the three responding officers down a nearby alley during a brief foot chase that culminated in Saggese’s capture.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
