Man gone for more than six years captured

February 21, 2011

Authorities tracked a man facing a local charge across several states and into another country until he was captured Friday, officials said Monday.
U.S. Marshals representatives apprehended James Doud Thomas, 73, on Friday in Baldwin County, Ga.
He allegedly jumped bail on Oct. 26, 2004, said Cmdr. Robert Elmore with the Okitbbeha County Sheriff’s Department.
Authorities tracked him through Mexico, Indiana, West Virginia, Illinois and Kentucky, Elmore said, noting they’ve been working with the U.S. Marshal Service the whole time. He did use some aliases, he said.
Thomas, who has relatives in this area, was originally arrested locally on a sexual battery charge, Elmore said. He is in the Baldwin County, Ga. jail awaiting extradition to the state of Mississippi.
He is expected to be before a judge Tuesday.
If he refuses to waive extradition, it will take about four to six weeks, but if we waives extradition, he will be back in custody in about two weeks, Sheriff Dolph Bryan said.