Belknap Co. fugitive arrested in Mass.

LACONIA — A former local man who was being sought for two years by the U.S. Federal Marshals and Belknap County Sheriffs Department Joint Fugitive Task Force was taken into custody Wednesday after he ran afoul of the Holyoke, Mass. Police.

Sgt. William Wright said Eric M. Blanchette, 40, formerly of Laconia was wanted by the sheriff's department after he failed to attend three separate 2009 trials in N.H. 4th Circuit Court, Laconia Division.

"He'd been on the run for over two years," Wright said yesterday. "He was listed twice as the fugitive of the week."

He said at one point the task force thought they had him in Laconia and once in Rochester but both times he eluded capture. He said when the Holyoke Police notified the Belknap County Sheriff's Department they had Blanchette in custody, Wright asked that they hold him on a fugitive from justice charge.

Blanchette agreed to be extradited back to New Hampshire.

Documents obtained from district court show on February 21, 2009 Blanchette allegedly broke a window on Jewett Street. Arrested and charged by Laconia Police on March 3, 2009 with criminal mischief, he failed to show for his April 23, 2009 trial.

On May 14, 2009 he was charged by Laconia Police with unauthorized taking for allegedly taking a syringe, two pair of scissors, and a bottle of Lidocaine from the emergency room at the Lakes Region General Hospital on April 25, 2009. He failed to appear for his June 25, 2009 trial.

On May 26, 2009 he allegedly "popped" the tire of a 1991 Chrysler New Yorker that was on Union Avenue. Arrested by the Laconia Police on June 19, 2009 and charged with criminal mischief, he failed to show up for his trial that was scheduled for July 23, 2009.

Judge Jim Carroll ordered Blanchette held on $500 cash-only bail.