For Immediate Release

Savannah, GA – A Savannah man wanted on charges for Sale of Cocaine, Possession of Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, and Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon was arrested by the United States Marshals Service Savannah Office of the Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force, members of the SCMPD/ATF “SARGE” task force and SCMPD Patrol Units on September 23, 2012.

Willie Lee “Chill” Smith, 29, was wanted by the Savannah Chatham Metropolitan Police Department (SCMPD) on six (6) warrants, four separate charges of sale of crack cocaine, and two warrants for firearms violation including Possession of a Firearm by a convicted felon and Possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, being the drug sales charges in warrants dating back to April 2012.

The Savannah Area Regional Gun Enforcement Task Force is a unit comprised of SCMPD detectives and ATF agents tasked with investigating gun crimes. As a result of the investigation conducted by “SARGE”, the above warrants were taken out on Smith. The SARGE task force enlisted the aid of the Marshals Fugitive Task Force to help find Smith. On September 21, 2012, the task forces received information that Smith was possibly at 105 Cornwall Street, in west Savannah, Georgia. In the early morning hours of Sunday, September 23, 2012, the Marshals Fugitive Task Force, SARGE Task Force members and SCMPD Patrol units went to the Cornwall Street address and arrested Smith without incident. Smith was taken to the Chatham County Jail to await judicial proceedings.

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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