COURT HOUSE — A local sex offender who took an unauthorized trip to the Rocky Mountains is now back home in the Cape May County jail.
According to Prosecutor Robert Taylor, John Jacobus, 40, of the 300 block of Haverford Avenue in North Cape May, was picked up in Colorado on a probation violation and extradited back to this county.
The Herald became aware of Jacobus’ recent capture after receiving a news tip pointing to an online story from Colorado Springs KKTV 11 News.
The story said Jacobus was staying in an apartment with a mother of four until bounty hunter James Allen tracked him down. Allen said he was able to locate Jacobus through an online chat service called Paltalk.
“We watched him on camera and that’s how we knew where he was,” Allen told the television station.
KKTV accompanied the bounty hunter and police catching the Jan. 22 arrest on tape.
Following his arrest, Jacobus spent several days in the El Paso County Jail, Colorado Springs.
Why was he a fugitive?
Jacobus was arrested on July 30, 2002 after exposing himself to a young girl and attempting to lure her into the men’s bathroom near Broadway and Beach Drive in Cape May. He was charged with lewdness, attempting to lure a child and endangering the welfare of a child.
For this incident, Jacobus was registered as a tier-2 (moderate risk of re-offense) sex offender. The date of his disposition was Dec. 5, 2002.
Offenders are required to notify police when they move. Apparently, Jacobus did not.
The 2002 incident was not Jacobus’ first or last encounter with the law.
According to Herald archives, Jacobus was indicted by a Superior Court grand jury Aug. 25, 1998 on a single count of lewdness following a July 15 incident. The report stated a passer-by sighted Jacobus allegedly crabbing nude in the marshes in the presence of two boys, aged 10 and 11. One of the boys was his nephew.
In April 1999, Jacobus was found not guilty of criminal lewdness, but he was convicted of disorderly persons lewdness. He said at the time that he was a practicing nudist, but admitted taking his clothes off in front of pre-adolescent boys was wrong, according to the report.
He’s also had alcohol-related arrests.
On May 24, 2000, Jacobus was arrested and charged with drunk driving, refusing a breath test, leaving the scene of an accident and other violations, after a parked vehicle was hit at the corner of Perry and W. Perry streets. He later received $755 in fines and costs, two-year license revocation and 30 days community service for those offences.
More recently in April 2007, Jacobus was arrested by Lower Township police who reported he was “highly intoxicated and out of control.”
He was charged with criminal mischief and transferred to county jail in lieu of bail.
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com
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