US Marshals caught Charles Dewayne Ransom in Northridge, California about 3 p.m. Wednesday. Police say he escaped from J. Reuben Long Detention Center on November 21, 2011.
He was accused of drug trafficking in Horry County and had an outstanding federal warrant from the United States Attorney's Office in the Central District of California. The federal charges stemmed from a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) case named "Operation Snow Bird" that involved 14 people indicted for shipping hundreds of pounds of cocaine from Los Angeles to Baltimore in November of 2010.
In the November 2011 escape, police say Ransom switched armbands with a co-defendant and arranged to have the co-defendant bonded out and walked out of the jail using the co-defendant's identify.
Ransom was listed on the DEA Most Wanted Fugitives in Los Angeles, used multiple aliases, and was skilled at hiding from law enforcement during his 16 months as a fugitive, deputies say.
Ransom was scheduled to be arraigned in Federal Court in Los Angeles Thursday and remains in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center.
