RAPE SUSPECT RECEIVES SURPRISE VISIT AT WORK

James M. Wahlrab, United States Marshal for the Southern District of Ohio, announces the arrest of Norris Lee Pass Jr. Pass was wanted by the Seattle, Washington Police Department as the primary suspect for a violent rape in 2005.

According to Washington authorities, late on the evening of January 3, 2005, an adult victim female was walking in the Pioneer Square area of downtown Seattle when she was suddenly grabbed from behind and dragged into a nearby alley. The suspect told the victim to “shut up or I will cut you.” The victim noticed that the suspect was armed with a knife. The victim was helpless throughout the rape and was unable to call the authorities until the suspect fled the area. The Washington authorities searched the area to no avail.

The suspect was later identified to be Norris Lee Pass Jr., a man who was staying in Seattle at the time and had a prior arrest for rape and kidnapping in Springfield, Ohio in 1997. The fugitive case was then turned over to the U.S. Marshals led Pacific Northwest Fugitive Task Force in order to track down and bring the subject to justice. The task force developed leads and believed that Pass was living and working in Springfield, Ohio. The U.S. Marshals Office in Dayton, Ohio was contacted and the torch was Passed.

Deputy U.S. Marshals in Dayton confirmed Pass’ residence and place of employment. On Friday, December 22, 2006, Deputy U.S. Marshals and officers from the Springfield Police Department teamed up and gave Pass a surprise visit at his place of employment on James Street in Springfield. With no place to run and no place to hide Pass surrendered himself peacefully to the authorities. Pass was taken into custody and booked into the Clark County Jail where he awaits extradition back to Seattle, Washington.

The U.S. Marshals Service was America’s first federal law enforcement agency and each year arrests more fugitives than all other federal law enforcement agencies combined.