U.S. Attorney, Crimestoppers Announce The Top 15 Most Wanted Fugitives

MACON, Ga. – Charlie Peeler, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, is urging citizens to report the whereabouts of fifteen of the most wanted fugitives to authorities.

U.S. Attorney Peeler, together with Macon Regional Crimestoppers (MRCS) and its law enforcement partners, announced the new list of the Top 15 Most Wanted Fugitives in Middle Georgia during a press conference in Macon today. The fugitives are wanted for charges ranging from conspiracy to commit murder, aggravated assault, kidnapping and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. To view the list of wanted persons, please visit www.crimestop.us. Citizens can safely and anonymously report tips at 1-877-68CRIME. Crimestoppers provides automatic rewards of $1,000 minimum payout on the Top 15 Fugitive List and up to $2,000 for tips leading to the arrest of wanted fugitives.

All individuals charged with a crime are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of competent jurisdiction.

“It takes law abiding citizens willing to team up with law enforcement to collectively make our communities safer places to live, work and raise our families. Crimestoppers plays an important role in helping bring our community members together, focused on a shared goal—safer neighborhoods,” said U.S. Attorney Charlie Peeler. “I want to commend the outstanding efforts of Crimestoppers, our law enforcement partners and the public for the continued commitment to curbing violence and building safer communities for us all.”

In addition to today’s announcement of the new Top 15 Most Wanted Fugitives in Middle Georgia, MRCS is launching new social media platforms via TikTok and Instagram, adding to its online network on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and the MRCS website at crimestop.us.  MRCS will begin running announcements on these social media websites with photos and videos of wanted fugitives and information for the public to quickly and safely report a fugitive’s whereabouts. To find MRCS on social media, please visit https://crimestop.us/about/social-media/ for links to our social media channels.

“Thanks to a 2019 grant from the Peyton Anderson Foundation, Macon Regional Crimestoppers is able to publish our Top 15 Most Wanted Fugitives List to a broader audience, and we are able to create new social media platforms. These new tools will better involve the public in helping law enforcement capture wanted fugitives and make our communities safer, which is the goal of Crimestoppers,” said Warren Selby, Chairman of Macon Regional Crimestoppers. “I want to thank the Peyton Anderson Foundation for making these advancements possible and our law enforcement partners for their extraordinary support of our mission to increase the safety of citizens.”

In February 2019, the U.S. Attorney’s Office made a public commitment with MRCS to release a quarterly list throughout 2019 of the Most Wanted violent offenders. 41 of the 45 Top 15 Most Wanted fugitives in 2019 were captured. Macon Regional Crimestoppers is a local non-profit dedicated to increasing the safety of citizens, serving Bibb, Baldwin, Houston, Jones, Twiggs, Crawford, Monroe and Peach counties. The organization partners with law enforcement agencies and community groups to provide anonymous rewards for tips that lead to criminal arrests. To learn more about Macon Regional Crimestoppers, please visit www.crimestop.us. 

The U.S. Attorney’s Office partnership with Macon Regional Crimestoppers is a part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders works together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

The partnership is also part of Project Guardian, the Department of Justice’s signature initiative to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws. Initiated by the Attorney General in the fall of 2019, Project Guardian draws upon the Department’s past successful programs to reduce gun violence; enhances coordination of federal, state, local, and tribal authorities in investigating and prosecuting gun crimes; improves information-sharing by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives when a prohibited individual attempts to purchase a firearm and is denied by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), to include taking appropriate actions when a prospective purchaser is denied by the NICS for mental health reasons; and ensures that federal resources are directed at the criminals posing the greatest threat to our communities. For more information about Project Guardian, please see https://www.justice.gov/projectguardian.

Questions can be directed to Pamela Lightsey, Public Information Officer, United States Attorney’s Office, at (478) 621-2603 or Melissa Hodges, Public Affairs Director (Contractor), United States Attorney’s Office, at (478) 765-2362.