Task Force's 'Most Wanted' nabbed at city apartment

Lace Meattey (Police mug shot)

CONCORD - A Rochester woman being hunted by the U.S. Marshal's Fugitive Task Force was arrested today at a Pine Street apartment.

Lace Meattey, 32, who was wanted on an outstanding Strafford County arrest warrant for bail violations, was found hiding under a blanket in a stairwell of the residence.

Meattey was wanted on an outstanding Strafford County arrest warrant for bail violations on charges of drug possession and endangering the welfare of a child.

She was originally charged with these offenses in Strafford County Superior Court and released on bail. This arrest warrant was issued when she failed to appear as part of her supervision.

The Marshals Fugitive Task Force received numerous tips indicating that Meattey was still in the Rochester and Farmington areas.

Investigators developed information today that Meattey was at a Pine Street apartment to which they responded where they ultimately found her hiding under a blanket at the bottom of a stairwell.

Meattey was arrested without incident and transported to Strafford County Jail where she was held without bail pending her arraignment on the outstanding warrant.

Meattey was one of two people arrested in July at a Farmington residence at the center of a murder investigation into the deaths of two women in January.

Meattey, along with Michael Ditroia, 58, also of Rochester, were arrested July 19 when federal and state lawmen swarmed the property at 979 Meaderboro Road to execute a search warrant at the Farmington home of the boyfriend of one of two women stabbed to death there.

The owner of the home, Dean Smoronk, is currently incarcerated at Pamunkey Regional Jail in Virginia on no bail after his arrest on drug charges in June.

Meattey was charged with possession of meth and cocaine and endangering the welfare of a child because police allege her three children were with her with suspected drugs close by.

Ditroia was charged with possession of methamphetamines.

It was Smoronk who found the bodies of his longtime girlfriend Christine Sullivan, 48, along with Jenna Pellegrini, 32, of Barrington, Jan. 28 after returning from Florida, according to court documents.

Timothy Verrill of Dover, a longtime acquaintance of Smoronk, was arrested in February in Massachusetts and extradited back to New Hampshire to face murder charges in their deaths. He remains in Carroll County Jail on no bail.