Three Smith County Fugitives Arrested in Mexico

Tyler, TX – Three Smith County fugitives wanted by the U.S. Marshals Joint East Texas Fugitive Task Force (JETTF) were located and arrested by Mexico’s National Institute of Migration in San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico. On October 15, 2015, James Mitchell Zachary, Brandy Yvette Rucker, and Dawn Rae Barron were given a one way flight, and escorted by the Mexican Federal Police to Houston, Texas to be delivered over to the U.S. Marshals.

On October 1, 2015 the JETTF adopted these three fugitive cases from the Smith County Sheriff’s Office. Each one of them had been separately indicted in narcotics cases in Smith County, TX. Barron fled to Mexico after bonding out of jail in 2010 on a Tyler Police Department narcotics case. Barron has also been wanted since February 2011 by the Smith County Sheriff’s Office for Failure to Appear on a felony Possession of a Controlled Substance case. The JETTF developed information that Barron was living in San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico and had been for several years.

Zachary and Rucker were both wanted for Felony Possession of Controlled Substance warrants. The JETTF found information indicating that Zachary and Rucker are associates of Barron’s, and had fled to San Jose Del Cabo where they could get assistance while running from their troubles in Smith County.

With the information that all three fugitives were now living in San Jose Del Cabo, on October 8, the JETTF sent an International lead to the USMS Foreign Field Office in Mexico indicating the possible location of all three fugitives. On October 14, they were successfully located and detained by Mexico’s National Institutue of Migration Officers in San Jose Del Cabo. It was determined that the fugitives were living in Mexico illegally, and they could immediately be deported from Mexico to the United States. All three fugitives were booked into the Harris County Jail.

U.S. Marshal Robert Hobbs said “I would like to give special recognition to the investigators consisting of the Tyler Police Detectives, Smith County Detectives, and Deputy U.S. Marshals on the JETTF that developed the leads and intelligence necessary to determine the locations of these fugitives in Mexico.”

These arrests were a result of extraordinary coordination between the USMS Republic of Mexico Foreign Field Office, Smith County Sheriff’s Department, the Tyler Police Department, the Mexican Federal Police, Mexico’s National Institute of Migration, and the USMS East Texas Fugitive Task Force.