Police Arrest Alleged American Pedophile Who Fled to Thailand to Work as a Teacher

September 25, 2017

Local authorities in Thailand have arrested a suspected pedophile from the United States who, with the use of fake IDs, found a job as an English teacher at schools in the countryside.

The fugitive, identified as 26-year-old Jackson Matthew Hall from Alabama, was apprehended on Friday evening at the Nar Ton Pier on the southern island of Samui.

According to the Bangkok Post, hall reportedly went into hiding in Thailand for a year after fleeing prosecution on multiple counts of child sex abuse in the U.S.

Hall was reportedly indicted on multiple charges of child abuse, rape and sodomy charges in 2014. After posting bail in 2015, he escaped to Thailand to allegedly evade arrest. ABC reports that Hall even faked his own death to escape the charges.

Using a passport owned by an associate in America named Tyler Doran Smith, the alleged pedophile was able to enter Thailand in October of 2016.

Lt. Col. Nutthorn Praosunthorn of Thai police said that Hall had been teaching at schools in Rayong and Khon Kaen provinces.

An anonymous blog about him detailed his exploits in the country, with stories of him scamming locals, engaging in credit card fraud and doing other illegal activities while in Thailand.

Austin American-Statesman reported that Hall first emerged in local media after a South African man named Darron Beetge reported that his ex-wife Nittaya Polsripim, a Thai agent who would find jobs for foreigners, went missing in March.

Beetge has alleged that Polsripim disappeared after she began dating a man named Tyler Smith, who he later discovered to be Hall, police said.

Friends of Women Foundation had earlier circulated a now-viral social media warning that a suspected American pedophile was hiding in Thailand and posing as an English teacher under a fake name.

Khao Sod reports that Thai authorities first found Polsripim in Bangkok, who then led them to find Hall on Samui island. After police interrogation, Hall admitted that he was, in fact, the sought-after fugitive.

Lt. Col. Praosunthorn said it has yet to be decided if Polsripim will be charged for harboring a fugitive.

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