On Thursday, June 19, 2008, 38 year old Charles
Ferguson was arrested in the Houston, Texas airport after he was expelled
from the Republic of Mexico. Ferguson is charged in a March 2006 indictment
in Jackson County, MS for two counts of possession of child pornography and
one count of possession of a firearm after a felony conviction. In August
2007, Ferguson failed to appear in court and a warrant was issued for his
arrest. After determining that Ferguson
fled the area to avoid prosecution in this case, investigators from the
Jackson County Sheriff’s Office requested assistance from the U.S. Marshal’s
Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force in Gulfport, MS. Initial
investigations revealed that Ferguson and another associate fled the United
States and entered into Mexico in August 2007. Unfortunately for Ferguson,
the U.S. Marshals Service has a foreign field office in Mexico City whose
primary mission is to track down fugitives that flee the U.S. and try to
find safe haven in Mexico.
Based on information developed by U.S.
Marshals in Gulfport and in Mexico City, Charles Ferguson was located at a
residence in Cozumel, Mexico in the morning hours of June 19th by Mexican
authorities. The Mexican authorities determined that Ferguson was in the
Republic of Mexico in violation of Mexican immigration laws and he was
expelled to the U.S. Upon his arrival into the U.S., Ferguson was arrested
on the Jackson County warrant and booked into the Harris County Jail where
he is awaiting extradition to Mississippi.
This arrest comes on the heels of another
Jackson County fugitive arrest with international ties. On Tuesday, June 17,
2008, 45 year old Ricky Rainey was arrested in Chicago, Illinois after he
returned to the U.S. on a flight from China. Rainey was wanted on an April
2006 Jackson County warrant charging him with three counts of sexual
battery. He was booked into the Cook County Jail in Chicago and is also
awaiting extradition to Mississippi.
Nehemiah Flowers, Jr., U. S. Marshal for the
Southern District of Mississippi, said “These two arrests are great examples
of the effectiveness of our fugitive task force and are the direct results
of our partnership with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and other local
and international law enforcement agencies. We will continue to focus our
efforts on those who prey on our children and victimize our communities with
criminal acts”.
The Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force
will celebrate its second anniversary in
July. It is headquartered in Birmingham, AL, and has offices in Gulfport,
Jackson, and Oxford,
Mississippi as well as four offices in Alabama. The Gulfport office is
comprised of Deputy U.S.
Marshals and officers from the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office, Jackson
County Sheriff’s
Office, the Biloxi Police Department, and the Gulfport Police Department.
To learn more about the U. S. Marshals
Service and its fugitive apprehension mission, please visit our website at
www.usmarshals.gov. |