On June 29^th Deputy U.S. Marshals in Houston arrested Cornelius Kelly at a Department Store located inside a shopping mall in Houston.  Kelly was Wanted for multiple drug related charges in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana as well as Beaumont, Texas.  Further, Kelly had recently appeared for trial in one of his drug cases in St. Mary Parish and requested a continuance.  When the judge denied the continuance, Kelly never returned.  The judge continued Kelly’s trial in absentia and Kelly was found guilty.  St. Mary Parish contacted the Western District of Louisiana’s Fugitive Task Force (WDLA) who immediately began working this case.  WDLA was able to determine that Kelly was in Houston and the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders (GCVO) Task Force was contacted.  Within approximately four hours the GCVO Task Force members arrested Kelly without incident.  Kelly is being booked on his Beaumont charges and will eventually be extradited back to St. Mary Parish.

The United States Marshal for the Western District of Louisiana said, “The coordinated effort of all law enforcement to bring dangerous criminals to justice ensures that the streets and neighborhoods of Louisiana are a safer place to raise our children.”

Annually, investigations carried out by the U.S. Marshals result in the apprehension of approximately 34,000 federal fugitives. More federal fugitives are arrested by Marshals than all other federal agencies combined.

The Western District of Louisiana’s Task Force is a team comprised of law enforcement officers from agencies throughout the Western part of Louisiana (Shreveport, Monroe, Lake Charles, Alexandria, Opelousas, and Lafayette). The task force objective is to seek out and arrest federal, state, and local fugitives, mainly those with violent criminal histories to include sex offenders. In 2008, U.S. Marshals task forces arrested more than 73,000 state and local fugitives on felony charges.

Additional information about the U.S. Marshals can be found at http://www.usmarshals.gov.