PEABODY — A convicted pedophile with a history of failing to register as a sex offender was sentenced yesterday to six months in jail for not telling Peabody police he was living in the city.
But while Brian Sewall, 58, has already spent nearly six months in custody and will complete his sentence within a few days, he won't be walking free anytime soon. Instead, he'll be sent to New Hampshire to answer to a warrant for the same charge, lodged while he was living there.
Sewall was arrested in September after Peabody and Salem police learned that he was living at 111R Main St. in Peabody and frequenting the McDonald's on Main Street, usually in the afternoon, after school let out. And police learned that he had been seen on a regular basis with a 15-year-old boy.
That was a concern to police because of the nature of Sewall's convictions. In 1992, he was convicted of sexually assaulting two boys in their early teens.
Police caught up with Sewall on Main Street near the McDonald's with another man. Sewall and the man were leaning into a car.
Sewall claimed to know the person in the car and said he liked going to McDonald's for coffee because he got the senior citizen discount.
Sewall was arrested on charges of illegally possessing prescription pills. Police added the charge of failing to register after learning that Sewall had been living at the Main Street address for at least six months and had told his neighbors that he was registered.
It's not the first time he'd failed to register. He's been charged with the same crime at least four times in Massachusetts, starting about a year after he got out of jail in the indecent assault case, in 1997, and in 2005, 2006 and 2007.
Sewall's criminal history dates back to 1970, according to court records, and includes numerous larceny and fraud convictions, as well as drunken driving, criminal threats and contributing to the delinquency of minors. His record also stretches up and down the East Coast, with arrests in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Vermont and New Hampshire, according to the same record.
He's also used at least three aliases, including the name Robert MacMillan, the name he gave police in Peabody when he was arrested in September.
Sewall has been held at Middleton Jail and Bridgewater State Hospital since his arrest.
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