SOFAST Task Force Arrests Murder Suspect in Cincinnati

Cincinnati, OH - U.S. Marshal Pete Tobin is pleased to announce that during the afternoon hours of February 15, 2017, the U.S. Marshal’s Southern Ohio Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team (SOFAST) arrested fugitive Kamaya Farikafi for an outstanding warrant from the Chelsea District Court for Murder.

Farikafi, 23, was wanted by the Chelsea Police Department, Massachusetts State Police and the U.S. Marshals’ New England HIDTA Fugitive Task Force. Investigators in Massachusetts discovered Farikafi fled to the State of Ohio. On February 5, 2017, Farikafi allegedly used a baseball bat to assault Melvin Cortes, 32, in the City of Chelsea. Cortes sustained serious life threating injuries as a result of the assault and succumbed to his injuries on February 11, 2017. U.S. Marshals’ New England HIDTA Fugitive Task Force and Massachusetts State Police developed information Farikafi was in the Cincinnati area of Southwestern Ohio. This information was provided to the U.S. Marshals’ Southern Ohio Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team (SOFAST), Cincinnati Office. The U.S. Marshals (SOFAST) and the Colerain Police Department quickly located Farikafi in the 7000 block of Colerain Avenue and arrested him on the outstanding charge.

Farikafi is currently in custody at the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office and will soon be extradited back to the State of Massachusetts.

Cincinnati’s SOFAST is a fugitive focused, U.S. Marshals Service-led task force consisting of local, state, and federal authorities including the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, Colerain Township Police

Department, Harrison Police Department, Newtown Police Department, Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General, St. Bernard Police and Warren County Prosecutor’s Office.

U.S. Marshals are the nation’s primary fugitive hunting organization and capture more federal fugitives each year than all other law enforcement agencies combined.