A woman accused of hiding her wanted cousin from New York in residences in Texarkana, Ark., and New Boston, Texas, was arrested Thursday by deputy U.S. marshals.
Rachel Lynn Baumann, 25, allegedly provided her cousin, Taylor Morley, a place to live for months before repeatedly lying to local deputy marshals about his whereabouts, states a probable cause affidavit signed by Deputy U.S. Marshal Matt Bremer on file in the Texarkana Division of the Western District of Arkansas. Morley is wanted by federal officials in the Western District of New York for failing to appear in court on a counterfeiting charge. He is also wanted by New York state officials for grand larceny, forgery and probation violations.
In December, U.S. marshals in New York developed information leading them to believe Morley might be hiding out with Baumann at a house in New Boston. When local marshals contacted Baumann in January in New Boston, she allegedly denied knowing anything about Morley’s whereabouts and claimed she quit talking to him in November.
New York authorities received a tip April 5 that Baumann was living in a house in Texarkana, Ark., on Pecan Street with Baumann. Deputy U.S. Marshal Matt Bemer contacted the home’s owner and learned Baumann had signed a lease Dec. 19 with Taylor Jordan, a man she described to the landlord as her cousin. Bemer determined that Taylor Jordan is an alias Morely has used in the past.
When Bemer and other officers went back to the Pecan Street house April 6, they were unable to make contact with anyone. On April 11, New York authorities were told by an anonymous source that Baumann and Morley had been home when the law came knocking five days before.
The next day, Bemer found Baumann at the Pecan Street house. Baumann claimed she hadn’t opened the door the day before because she was unsure if the men knocking were really law enforcement. Baumann’s answers to other questions and her refusal to allow Bemer to look at her cell phone, led Bemer to believe Baumann was lying.
Baumann appeared Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Bryant for an initial appearance in the Texarkana Division of the Western District of Arkansas on a criminal complaint charging her with providing materially false information in a government investigation and harboring a fugitive. Bryant released Baumann on a $5,000 unsecured bond. Baumann’s next court appearance will likely occur once she has been indicted by a federal grand jury, unless she violates the conditions of her bond.
