CONCORD, NH – Michael Villanueva, aged 43 and formerly of New York, has pleaded guilty to escaping from the Hampshire House Residential Reentry Center in Manchester, as announced by U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young.
Villanueva admitted to fleeing federal custody, with his sentencing set by U.S. District Court Judge Paul J. Barbadoro for June 26.
Previously convicted in Vermont for distributing heroin and cocaine, Villanueva was sentenced to a decade in prison. In June 2023, he was transferred from a federal facility in Pennsylvania to Hampshire House, where he was placed under house arrest with a GPS monitoring ankle bracelet.
On January 10, after being instructed to return to the Hampshire House for possessing inappropriate messages on his phone, Villanueva tampered with his tracking device at 6:41 p.m. He evaded capture for three weeks until his arrest in the Manchester area.