Daniel Teed, Child Sex Trafficking, PA 2013

Daniel Teed, 56, of Wexford, Pennsylvania, is facing federal charges after vanishing for years instead of reporting to prison for a 10-year sentence tied to child sex trafficking. A federal grand jury in Pittsburgh returned a two-count indictment on February 13, accusing Teed of failing to register as a sex offender and willfully failing to surrender to serve his sentence.

According to the indictment, Teed was convicted on June 14, 2017, for Conspiracy to Commit Sex Trafficking of Children—a crime triggering mandatory registration under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). Despite this legal obligation, he knowingly failed to register at any point from October 23, 2017, through the present, violating federal law.

Even more brazen, Teed failed to report to the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Loretto in western Pennsylvania on January 2, 2018, as ordered by the court. Instead of turning himself in after being released pending sentencing, he disappeared—sparking a nationwide manhunt led by the U.S. Marshals Service.

The fugitive was finally apprehended on February 12 in Flagstaff, Arizona. Deputy Marshals tracked him to the Super 8 motel on the 2500 block of East Lucky Lane after uncovering evidence that Teed had been using an alias and altering his appearance to evade capture. He was taken into custody without incident as he left the motel and approached his vehicle late Monday afternoon.

Now, Teed faces up to 20 years in prison, a $500,000 fine, and up to three years of supervised release if convicted on both counts. The actual sentence would depend on the severity of the offenses and his criminal history, per federal sentencing guidelines. Assistant United States Attorney Jessica Lieber Smolar is prosecuting the case.

The investigation was conducted jointly by the U.S. Marshals Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This case falls under Project Safe Childhood, a Justice Department initiative launched in 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation. The program combines federal, state, and local efforts to hunt down offenders and rescue victims across the country.