Hunting fugitives dangerous for US Marshal agents, but it's ‘got to be done'

Yahoo

27-02-2025

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — With every captured fugitive, the U.S. Marshal Service is making our communities safer.
Going after the most violent criminals in the Miami Valley is dangerous work and the agents don't stop until the fugitives are in custody.
'This is one of those jobs that's got to be done,' said Kevin Deppe. 'Sun, snow, rain, sleet, whatever the situation is, we got to be out here.
'Crime doesn't rest. And so, neither do we.'
2 on 2 Most Wanted: 2 NEWS' monthly series on sought fugitives
Deppe is a supervisor deputy with the U.S. Marshal Service here in the Southern District of Ohio. He leads a special task force of agents who hunt down the most violent offenders in our area.
'We are going after people who have committed violent felony offenses,' said Deppe. 'These are not your run-of-the-mill 'breaking and entering' — these are people with weapons charges, aggravated assault, homicides, things that raise to the level of the involvement of the federal government.'
'One of the ways that I commonly describe my job is just one big job of hide-and-seek. We get warrants, which are pieces of paper with somebody's name on it, and my entire job is to go find that person whose name is on the warrant,' said Deppe.
The outcome of each encounter is never known in advance, so Deppe's task force prepares for the worst based on the history of the fugitive.
'Sometimes these situations escalate, pretty, pretty quickly,' he said.
Other times, in a win for everyone, a suspect will willingly come out to the agents on the first request.
'My goal is to handle these situations, serve these warrants, get these targets into custody without ever having to use force,' he said.
Deppe said the agents aim to move swiftly and efficiently, and that any information from the community helps them do just that.
'You know when these targets are actively avoiding law enforcement capture, a lot of times. they've been through the system before. They know some of the tips and they know some of the tricks that we use to track them down,' said Deppe. 'The public really becomes super important in finding the targets that we're going after. When they are on the run and legitimately trying to hide from us.'
Deppe said it can't be understated how important of a role the public plays in helping to capture these fugitives. He cited the arrest two weeks ago of a wanted fugitive based on a tip from a 2 NEWS viewer as an example of the type of partnership they are striving for.
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