An unregistered sex offender considered a person of interest after someone followed a teenage girl and offered her ride in Marshfield on Tuesday has been arrested, Massachusetts State Police said Thursday.
Edmund Chance, 53, was arrested by a team from the state police's Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section for allegedly failing to register as a sex offender, according to police.
Chance tracked to a location in Hingham and arrested, and was due in Hingham District Court later Thursday, police said. It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney who could speak to his arrest.
This is a breaking news update. Read an earlier version of this story below.
There's an urgent search underway in Marshfield, Massachusetts, Thursday for a 53-year-old sex offender accused of following a teenage girl and offering her ride.
The incident happened when the 17-year-old girl was going for a jog Tuesday evening, according to Marshfield police, who said Edmund Lachance offered to give her a ride but when she said no, he followed her.
The girl then ran away, police said, and called 911 and described the vehicle Lachance was driving.
Officers quickly located parked at a home in Scituate. Investigators said he was evasive about what had happened, but they didn't have enough to go on at the time to make an arrest.
Since Lachance is a level 3 sex offender, he must register every 90 days for life and register his new address whenever he moves. However, police said he failed to register his new address at a home in Scituate.
"Not an immediate threat to public safety but he does have a history of predatory behavior…we want to locate him," said Marshfield Police Officer Camden Bruno.
Lachance was convicted of rape in 1991 and rape and indecent assault and battery on a person aged 14 or over in 2001, according to the Sex Offender Registry Board.
When officers went back to the home, the 53-year-old Lachance was gone.
He was last known to be driving a 2006 Black Lincoln Zephyr with Massachusetts license plate 4NWY15.
