Child porn suspect on MA Wanted List with Fall River ties has been captured

According to Massachusetts State Police, a child pornography suspect with ties throughout Massachusetts and recently added to the Massachusetts State Police Most Wanted Fugitives list was captured this afternoon in New Jersey after the MSP Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section (MSP VFAS) and US Marshals developed information that he was hiding there.

Stephen C. Cote, 47, was arrested by New Jersey officers as he got out of a motor vehicle in the parking lot of the Westgate apartment complex in Lakewood, NJ.

Recently, MSP VFAS Troopers and US Marshals in Springfield developed information about COTE’s location and the vehicle he might be driving and forwarded it to the NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force.

Members of that Task Force began working the case and today set up surveillance outside the apartment complex where COTE was believed to be staying. After several hours of surveillance, Task Force members, who were working with US Marshals and officers from the New Jersey State Police and New Jersey Department of Criminal Justice, were rewarded when COTE drove into the lot in the suspected vehicle, parked, and exited.

Task Force members positively identified Cote and placed him into custody on an outstanding warrant.

Cote was wanted the Massachusetts State Police, the Northampton Police Department, and federal law enforcement authorities for receipt of material involving sexual exploitation of minors. An arrest warrant for Cote was issued in November 2015 after investigators developed evidence that he was in possession of child pornography, but Cote went on the run at that time and has been sought ever since.

MSP VFAS Troopers added Cote to the Department’s list of Most Wanted Fugitives on June 25.

Cote will be held until his arraignment in federal court in the near future.