Cleveland County K-9 Leads Deputies To Fugitive

A fugitive sought by multiple agencies was apprehended Wednesday, Jan. 9 by the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office.

“Today’s capture of an elusive felon shows the tenacity and investigative skills of our team,” said Cleveland County Sheriff Todd Gibson. “While the skills of our K-9 handlers and our dogs are impressive, it takes teamwork and solid investigative work to narrow the search area and benefit from that K-9’s training and ability.” 

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Deputies obtained information that fugitive Curtis Ferrell was staying at a trailer in a Noble trailer park, but he had left prior to their arrival.

“We had the K-9 out due to his violent history and the felony warrants out on him,” Lt. Michael Russell said. “We believed he was still in the area, possibly hiding in the woods near the trailer park.”

K-9 Hevey picked up Ferrell’s scent and led handler Master Sgt. Travis Shroyer and other deputies about half a mile northeast where the team located Ferrell inside an abandoned house, Russell said.

“He began to run, saw the dog and surrendered,” Russell said.

Ferrell was wanted on three felony warrants with multiple charges including: two counts of knowingly concealing stolen property, one count of larceny of an automobile and eluding an officer, and one count of unauthorized use of vehicle, two counts of assault and battery on a police officer and one count of unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia.

In addition to Russell and Deputy Elexa Sanders, Deputy Keith Webb and Deputy Rick Adkins participated in the capture. The Noble Police Department also assisted with the search. 

On Monday night, Cleveland County Sheriff’s deputies had assisted Noble Police in a foot pursuit in the Dove Canyon Mobile Home Park looking for Ferrell after he stole a pickup truck.

Master Sgt. Nathan Douglas and K-9 Django assisted in that search along with Deputy Todd Bussell and Master Sgt. Marcus Williams, but that team was unable to catch scent of Ferrell’s whereabouts.

“Our deputies are tenacious, particularly when a suspect who has been identified as dangerous is still committing crimes in Cleveland County,” Gibson said. “We take our mission to protect the community very seriously.”