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.