U.S. Marshals Arrest Man Who Fled in 2016 to Avoid Trial for Child Pornography

Des Moines, IA – After nearly six years on the run, a Des Moines man who faked his own death and fled the state to avoid a trial on child pornography charges is back in custody.

U.S. Marshals in the Southern District of Iowa, working with the U.S. Marshals Montana Violent Offender Task Force, and U.S. Marshals in the Western District of Washington, on Monday found and arrested Jacob Greer, 28, in Spanaway, Washington.

Greer is currently at the Federal Detention Center in Seattle and he will be brought to Des Moines to stand trial.

In April 2016 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested Greer on charges of receipt and possession of child pornography. He was released on bond the next day under pretrial supervision with an ankle monitor and was living with his grandmother in Des Moines.

On May 31, 2016, Greer's U.S. Probation Officer received a monitoring alert indicating Greer’s GPS device had been removed. A multiagency search effort ensued, and Greer's vehicle was found with a suicide note inside of it. However, searchers did not find Greer’s body. A federal arrest warrant for Greer was issued that day.

On June 8, 2016, the U.S. Forestry Service located another vehicle associated with Greer in Tuchuck Campground in Flathead, Montana, but Greer was not there. Investigators discovered Greer had purchased the car with a $1,000 loan from a friend and that he had fled Iowa with money, a bow, arrows and a backpack full of survival gear.

Greer was last seen at a Wal-Mart in Kalispell, Montana, June 3, 2016, wearing a camouflage hat. Through additional interviews, investigators learned Greer was a survivalist and had plans to live off the land in remote areas of the upper western states or southern Canada, hiding out in abandoned cabins.

"The arrest of Jacob Greer after six years is a testament to the tenacity of Deputy U.S. Marshals and our investigative partners," said U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of Iowa Ted Kamatchus. "Even though the case went cold, they would not quit."