Two months of hard nosed reporting by Coast Guard Report culminated August 29^th^ when Coast Guard Petty Officer Jeffrey Ruggiero was taken into custody by the Georgetown County, South Carolina Sheriffs Office.
Coast Guard Report first broke this story on 1 July 2008, after being contacted the Ruggiero's wife and family. At that time, Ruggiero was already a fugitive from justice in New Hampshire where he had been sentenced to three years in prison for three misdemeanor violations; sending obscene matter, criminal threatening, and violation of a restraining order.
The Coast Guard was slow to move out on harboring this fugitive and continued to allow him to perform is normal law enforcement duties. Information on Ruggiero various charges from around the country were known to his supervisors.
In July of this year Thomas Jackson reported U.S. Coast Guard: Hiding a Fugitive from Justice? Part XIII (Lcdr. Stephen Miller) . That post gave us the first glimpse of Coast Guards mistakes in this case.
July 25th, 2007: Ruggiero family sends an e-mail to Master Chief Della Rocco with a picture of BM1 Ruggiero receiving fellatio from an unidentified woman in a bondage setting that was sent to the family by BM1 asking "do you want daddy to do this to you?" A second e-mail is sent this same date to Della Rocco containing 6 photo's of BM1 Ruggiero in women's clothing, complete nude and fully erect, that were sent to family residence by BM1.
July 25th, 2007: Master Chief Della Rocco sends an e-mail back to the family regarding the 25 July e-mail above asking "Who else did you send this to??"
September 4th, 2007: Lcdr. Stephen Miller forwards the Ruggiero family e-mail notifying Coast Guard of the Court Case to BM1 with the families contact info on it.
Those communications with Ruggiero in which Della Rocco and Miller gave him not only the evidence his family and prosecutors had against him, but also included contact information for the family caused immeasurable harm to family as he continued to track and torment them. Those communications between Della Rocco and Miller with Ruggiero were also in violation of the Coast Guards own Victim/Witness Protection policy.
With Ruggiero finally safe behind bars in New Hampshire, his family sleeps comfortably knowing he can't harm them for now. Coast Guard Cdr, James Pruett attorney for the 7^th^ Districts says Coast Guard is still investigating their complicity in this case.