U.S. marshals captured an elusive fugitive mere hours after his mug shot and reported crimes were published in The Examiner.
Lavon Deconte Childs, 24, was profiled Thursday as this week’s Most Wanted figure. By 9:30 a.m., he was in custody.
One caller told marshals that he just saw someone that looked like Childs walking down Acton Road and Crain Highway in Waldorf.
The agents initially were dubious because Childs had no history of hanging out in Charles County and he isn’t that distinctive looking. But when the sheriff’s office sent their units out, they found Childs in the area at a Home Depot store.
“The Examiner readers do it again,” said Matthew Burke, supervisory inspector with the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force. “This is another example of the public taking an active role in protecting themselves.”
Childs, who had been on the run for nearly two years, is the fourth Most Wanted figure in less than a month and a half to be put behind bars after being featured in The Examiner.
Childs has a long arrest history including numerous drug offenses, assaults and weapon violations, authorities said.
He is wanted by federal authorities in Prince George’s for violating his parole on an armed robbery that occurred in 2003. He also is wanted on a weapons offense in Montgomery County. Authorities considered him armed and dangerous.
Earlier this month, U.S. marshals captured Derrick Arthur, 37, a kidnapping suspect who narrowly escaped District police in a spectacular shootout three years ago by ducking into the National Arboretum. Four days later, Eddie Shade, 41, wanted for violating his parole on manslaughter and weapons charges, surrendered to authorities after seeing saw his own mug shot in the paper.
And last month, U.S. marshals nabbed convicted con man Clifton Clayton who was wanted from Georgia to Maryland after duping numerous car dealers into letting him run off with their high-end vehicles.
