Radio talk host passing through Vegas arrested on child porn charges

By Mary Manning

Tuesday, April 21, 2009 | 5:51 p.m.

New Hampshire fugitive Aaron Aldridge, 42, was arrested today on child pornography charges after a freeway chase on Interstate 15 about 20 miles into California.

Aldridge was wanted by Newport, N.H., authorities for the possession and production of child pornography. He was arrested by U.S. Marshals from Nevada and California.

Aldridge was reported missing last week when he failed to show up for work at his job as a radio host on WNTK AM in New London, N.H. He had been a police officer in Newport from 1999 until 2004, authorities said.

Newport police received reports that Aldridge had been spotted in Florida and other southern states, and developed information today that he was passing through Las Vegas, said U.S. Marshal Gary Orton of Nevada.

The U.S. Marshals Nevada Fugitive Investigative Strike Team (FIST), was contacted and within three hours members spotted Aldridge's vehicle in Nevada on I-15, about five miles north of the California state line, Orton said.

The vehicle was going south into California and FIST members requested and received assistance from the California Highway Patrol.

Aldridge, who initially refused to pull over, was arrested on I-15 about 20 miles into California. He is in custody pending his extradition to New Hampshire.

After Aldridge went missing, family members began searching through his belongings trying to figure out where he went, according to WPTZ.com. During that search, someone reportedly found child pornography.

The Web site's report said the community is in shock. Not only was Aldridge a radio host and former police officer, he also wrote a weekly family article for the local newspaper, "The Eagle Times." Police said they believe financial and marital problems motivated him to leave the area, but two charges of child pornography kept him on the run.

"I just didn't think that he was that kind of person," Newport resident Judy Ward told WPTZ on Tuesday. "I've known him since he was a cop."