Fugitive Sex Offender Captured Kayaking Up Ohio River

Mt. Vernon, IN - The U.S. Marshals North Florida Violent Fugitive Task Force (NFVFTF) announces the arrest of Gary Frederick Gray; an Escambia County wanted sex offender who jumped bail and who has been on the run for almost four months. By 10:30 (CST) his life on the lam was cut short when the 62 year old Gray was arrested in his kayak by Posey County Sheriff Jim Volz himself at the John T. Myers Lock & Dam in Posey. The NFVFTF directed Gray’s apprehension with the help of the U.S. Coast Guard, Posey County Sheriff’s Office, members from the Indiana, Mississippi and Kentucky Core of Engineers, Tennessee Valley Authority, Alabama Fish & Wild Life and the Aberdeen Office of the Marshals Northern District of Mississippi. Gray is wanted for six counts of Lewd and Lascivious Molestation of a Child 12 Years or Younger. Gray was originally arrested in Lehigh Acres, Florida in July of last year on those charges and was on house arrest while awaiting trial. In early February, shortly after a court hearing in which he was offered a plea bargain of 13 years in prison and 10 years of probation, he cut off his home detention bracelet and fled. The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office requested the assistance immediately after Gray took off and they have been hunting him diligently since.

“When we were asked to help we took off running and haven’t stopped since,” said Task Force Coordinator Deputy U.S. Marshal Dominic Guadagnoli. “We learned early on that he bought the kayak and shortly after that we found an itemized list of survival supplies in his camper that was found by the Marshals in Ft. Myers.” “We immediately shifted gears in our investigation,” said Guadagnoli.

Late last week, the task force’s investigation brought them to a new starting point on the Tom Bigbee River in Aberdeen, Mississippi. The Marshals Office there learned that they were 30 days behind Gray. Task Force Officer Investigator Mike Carr with ECSO started contacting every type of law enforcement agency that worked the waterways and rivers from that point and north of there.

“We started getting calls from a lot of different people who had spotted him along the river,” Carr said. “Then we started hearing that lock masters along the Tennessee River had spotted him and we started closing in on him.” “By Saturday afternoon we were within one day of him,” said Carr.

“Every agency especially the Coast Guard went above and beyond what we expected,” said Carr.

“That type of dedication and support from those agencies made his capture happen as quick as it did,” said Guadagnoli.

Gray is in the Posey County Jail awaiting his extradition back to Escambia to face the charges.