One of America’s Most Wanted Captured in SW Virginia

Abingdon, VA - Four years on the run from Pennsylvania authorities came to an end last night in far Southwest Virginia. Charles Lewis Walton, 35, of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, was captured by a U.S. Marshals Task Force, FBI agents and local police following a foot chase, extensive search and brief struggle in the rural Hiltons area of Scott County. Walton, who’s fugitive status had been aired on the national television show America’s Most Wanted this past Saturday, had been living at a residence in Hiltons. Tips from the show led investigators to the Hiltons area where Walton was ultimately captured.

U.S. Marshal G. Wayne Pike advised that Walton became the subject of a national manhunt following allegations that he began raping a six year old female relative when he was living with her family members in 1995. See related story on the America’s Most Wanted website at: http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=44495.  In 2003, after years of sexual abuse, the girl came forward prompting Walton to flee Pennsylvania. Walton was arrested, charged as being a Fugitive from the state of Pennsylvania, and incarcerated in the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail in Duffield awaiting extradition proceedings for his return to his native Pennsylvania.

Agencies participating in this capture were the U.S. Marshals Blue Ridge Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team (BRFAST), the Washington Co. Sheriff’s Office, the FBI, the Virginia State Police,, the Scott Co. Sheriff’s Office and the outstanding commitment of Fox’s hit show, America’s Most Wanted.

The Blue Ridge Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team (BRFAST) task force was formed by the Marshals Service in 2004 as a joint federal, state and local law enforcement endeavor to pursue and arrest dangerous fugitives wanted at the international, national and state level thereby making our communities safer for our citizens and our children. To date, the BRFAST has cleared more than 200 federal arrest warrants and over 500 state arrest warrants.

The Marshals Service is our nation’s oldest federal law enforcement agency founded in 1789. U.S. Marshals and their deputies are responsible for providing protection to the federal judiciary, transporting federal prisoners, protecting endangered federal witnesses and managing assets seized from criminal enterprises. In fiscal year 2006, the Marshals Service apprehended more than 35,500 federal fugitives, more than all other federal law enforcement agencies combined.

In addition, while working with authorities at the state and local levels, Marshals Service led fugitive task forces arrested an additional 44,000 state and local fugitives. More on the U.S. Marshals and the historic Western District of Virginia can be found at www.usmarshals.gov by clicking on Local District Offices.