BY JENNIFER McDOWELL
Hooksett police picked up a registered sex offender for a reported sexual assault at a local motel on Monday, Nov. 5.
Eric Searles, 45, was arrested and charged with aggravated felonious sexual assault after police responded to a call from the Kozy 7 Motel on the Londonderry Turnpike at around 9:30 p.m.
Searles, whose last address is listed as 11 Welch Lane in Goffstown, according to the state’s sex offender registry, was convicted of aggravated felonious sexual assault in Vermont in 1991 when he and a cohort raped a 14-year-old girl.
In this case, the victim was an adult Searles had met at the New Horizons homeless shelter in Manchester, said detective Sgt. Nick Pinardi.
Nenita Smith, who owns the Kozy 7 with her husband, said Searles had been a patron of the hotel before, but could not recall the last time he had been there.
Both Pinardi and Smith confirmed that Searles and the woman entered the hotel together.
Smith said Searles registered with identification at the front desk at sometime between 7:30 p.m. and 8 p.m., about an hour and a half before police arrived.
In August of 1989, according to a Vermont Supreme Court document, a 27-year-old Searles and Brad Tullgren, 19 at the time, raped a 14-year-old girl in a at the Marshfield Dam after driving around in search of a party.
Tullgren pleaded guilty to the crime, spent four months in jail with the rest of his time suspended, and testified against Searles, who spent several years incarcerated and attempted to appeal his conviction in 1992.
According to New Hampshire’s sexual assault laws, anyone convicted of aggravated felonious sexual assault a second time is subject to a sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison.
Along with the sexual assault charge, police also charged Searles with felony possession of a crack pipe, the maximum sentence being 15 years in prison, and misdemeanor possession of marijuana, which carries a one year maximum sentence.
Searles is being held on $5,000 cash bail for the sexual assault charge and $1,000 for each of the drug charges at Merrimack County House of Corrections.
Pinardi said more charges may be added as it is suspected that Searles failed to register with the sex offender registry this year.
A probable cause hearing, held within 10 days of the crime, will determine whether there is enough evidence to proceed with the case, Pinardi said.
– Michelle Kim also contributed to this story.