For Immediate Release

Twenty-Nine Year Old Ferdinand Nickles was arrested at 4:30 EST at an Apartment Complex on Commerce Drive in Decatur, GA (DeKalb County) by the U.S. Marshals Southeast Regional Task Force (SERTF) in Atlanta. Nickles was being sought for 1st Degree Murder Charges that stemmed from the murder of Ernest Guidry in Vermilion Parish on September 27, 2009 (Nickles allegedly shot Guidry and burnt Guidry in his vehicle). Early on in this investigation Vermilion Parish authorities contacted the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force in Lafayette who began working alongside Vermilion Parish investigators in pursuing Nickles. The investigation showed that Nickles fled Lafayette to New Orleans on October 2nd and fled from New Orleans to the Atlanta area on or about October 15th.

Vermilion Parish Detectives and U.S. Marshals Task Force Officers have been working with SERTF Atlanta since October 16th. Nickles proved to be difficult to catch by constantly moving and not staying at one place for long. However, today his fate caught up with him and he was arrested after being found hiding behind a refrigerator; after a brief struggle, Nickles was arrested without incident.

Tommy Hancock, 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 Fugitive 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.