SALT LAKE CITY FBI FUGITIVE DR. BRUCE ARGYLE GUERNSEY
FOUND DEAD IN A DOMINICAN REPUBLIC JAIL
AFTER BEING ARRESTED ON OUTSTANDING WARRANT
Special Agent-In-Charge
Timothy J. Fuhrman, Salt Lake City Field Office of the FBI, announced
the FBI has been advised that Dr. BRUCE ARGYLE GUERNSEY, a recently convicted
sex offender, who had fled the area in late April 2006 prior to his scheduled
July 19, 2006 sentencing date, was found dead from an apparent suicide
in his jail cell in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
GUERNSEY was previously
arrested by the FBI on August 26, 2005 and charged with Possession and
Receipt of Child Pornography, a violation of Title 18 USC Section 2252
A. At the time of these charges, GUERNSEY was employed as a practicing
psychiatrist based in the Salt Lake Valley area. He was subsequently released
pending trial.
GUERNSEY pled guilty
to one count of Possession of Child Pornography on March 22, 2006 in the
United States Federal Court, District of Utah. He filed the appropriate
paperwork surrendering his license to practice psychiatry on or about
April 21, 2006. This was the last time GUERNSEY was known to be in this
area.
After failing to
check in under his court ordered supervised pretrial release, a new arrest
warrant was issued for GUERNSEY on May 3, 2006 for Contempt of Court-Violation
of Pretrial Release in violation of Title 18 USC Section 402. The Salt
Lake City FBI began an immediate and extensive fugitive investigation
which involved several states and at least two countries. There was significant
cooperation among law enforcement agencies at all levels.
Based on the efforts
of all parties involved, GUERNSEY was located in Santo Domingo, Dominican
Republic at a local hotel. He was taken into custody without incident
on June 9, 2006 by the Dominican Republic National Police. The FBI Legal
Attaché office in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic provided extensive
coordination of this case in order to effect the arrest of GUERNSEY. At
the time of his arrest, Guernsey was traveling under alias identification,
which he had begun procuring in the months before he left the Salt Lake
City area, and had changed his appearance. In the early morning hours
of June 10, 2006, the FBI was advised that GUERNSEY had been found dead
in his jail cell from an apparent suicide.
The Dominican Republican
National Police are conducting an investigation concerning the circumstances
of GUERNSEY'S death. Additional questions should be referred to their
office in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
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