Savannah, GA – An Alachua County, Florida woman wanted on charges of Battery and Aggravated Battery, was arrested by the United States Marshals Service Savannah Office of the Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force on July 2, 2012.

Ebony Kelley, 25, was wanted by the Alachua County Sheriff’s Department in Gainesville, Florida on charges of Battery and Aggravated Battery from a 2011 incident. Warrants were issued for her in May of 2012. The case was referred to the Gainesville Office of the U.S. Marshals Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force for assistance in locating and arresting her. The Florida Task Force generated information that Kelley was possibly in the Savannah, Georgia area. This information was then passed to the U.S. Marshals Savannah Office of the Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force for assistance. The information obtained by the Savannah Task Force indicated that Kelley was possibly in a hotel in the I-95 and Highway 204 area of Savannah, Georgia. Investigators scoured the area and narrowed the possible hotel down the four probable. Investigators then went to each of the four hotels and showed Kelley’s picture and she was positively identified as staying in the America’s Best Inn on Canebrake Road. Surveillance was conducted on the motel and after a short time Kelley exited the room to feed the stray cats that were around the motel. Kelley was arrested without incident and transported to the Chatham County jail to await extradition back to Florida.

Annually, investigations carried out by the U.S. Marshals result in the apprehension of over 36, 000 federal fugitives. More federal fugitives are arrested by the Marshals Service than all other federal agencies combined. In 2011, U.S. Marshals led task forces arrested more than 86,000 state and local fugitives, which cleared over 113,000 warrants.

The Marshals Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force has three offices: Atlanta, Macon, and Savannah. The task force covers the whole state of Georgia. The Savannah Office of the Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force is a team comprised of investigators from the Georgia Department of Corrections, the Chatham County Sheriff’s Department, the Savannah Chatham Metropolitan Police Department, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, the McIntosh County Sheriff’s Department, the Liberty County Sheriff’s Department, the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Department, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Department, and the United States Marshals Service. The task force objective is to seek out and arrest fugitives charged with violent crimes, drug crimes, sex offenders, and other felonies.

Additional information about the U.S. Marshals Service can be found at http://www.usmarshals.gov.

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