MURDER SUSPECT CAUGHT BY FUGITIVE TASK FORCE

FROM:  U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE 

June 30, 2015

U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force Captures Murder Suspect Wanted in Modesto, California

Reno, NV – Northern Nevada’s U.S. Marshals-led fugitive task force today located and arrested William Eric Smith who is wanted by the Modesto Police Department for a murder committed on June 6. Smith allegedly used a firearm during that crime; however, no gun was recovered during today’s arrest in a joint operation involving the Sparks Police Department, the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, the Nevada Division of Parole and Probation, and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Earlier this month, the Modesto Police asked the Marshals Service to assist in finding Smith. Through a series of investigative leads, Smith was discovered in the parking lot of a department store on East 2nd Street. He was shortly thereafter taken into custody without incident in Sparks. Smith was then booked into the Washoe County Detention Center to await court hearings and extradition to California.

Christopher Hoye, U.S. Marshal for the District of Nevada, commented that violent offenders are given top priority by the joint federal, state, county, and municipal fugitive task forces. “The Northern Nevada community can rest assured that when help is requested, one hundred percent of our effort is directed toward finding and arresting people wanted in these types of crimes,” Hoye further stated.

The Northern Nevada Fugitive Task Force, led by the U.S. Marshals Service, is a partnership comprised of law enforcement investigators from the United States Marshals Service, Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, Nevada Department of Public Safety (Probation & Parole), Sparks Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, & Firearms (ATF). The task force combines resources and expertise of local, state, and federal law enforcement in a coordinated effort to arrest dangerous fugitives and pursue sexual offenders wherever they are located. Last year the unit was responsible for the arrest of 250 state, local, and federal fugitives.