FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: [email protected]

Melrose Police Obtain Arrest Warrant After Indecent Assault and Battery Suspect Flees Country

MELROSE — Police Chief Michael L. Lyle reports that an arrest warrant has been issued after a man who is facing felony charges for alleged inappropriate conduct with women and girls in Melrose allegedly fled the country prior to his arraignment.

OLEXANDR KUSHNARENKO, AGE 48, OF MELROSE is now a wanted fugitive and will be subject to immediate arrest upon any attempt to re-enter the United States.

On May 15, Melrose Police were called to a coffee shop on Main Street after an employee reported a suspicious person who matched the description of a man police were searching for in connection with reports they had received from multiple women and girls of being inappropriately touched previously at a grocery store. Melrose Police subsequently identified that the suspect appeared to suffer from an intellectual disability and was unable to communicate with police or a translator. Police placed him in protective custody, released him to the custody of a relative, and sought a criminal complaint.

KUSHNARENKO’s arrest warrant specifies three counts of Indecent Assault and Battery on a Child Under 14 and one count of Indecent Assault and Battery on a Person 14 or Over, all felony charges.

Over the course of the ongoing investigation and after repeated attempts to make contact with the suspect, Melrose Police have learned that KUSHNARENKO was seen on surveillance footage at Boston Logan International Airport boarding a flight out of the country.

KUSHNARENKO had been scheduled to be arraigned Thursday at Malden District Court.

This remains an open and ongoing investigation. Chief Lyle and members of the Melrose Police Department reached out to each victim in this case today, after learning that KUSHNARENKO had fled the country.

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