FBI Captures "Catch Me if You Can" Home Repair Fugitive

From: FBI News Release   Filed 11/10/08 GCN

Fugitive MITCHELL LAMAR BARIA was captured Sunday, November 9, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada, stated Frederick T. Brink, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Mississippi.  Baria had been arrested in 2007 on three Home Repair Fraud charges by the Harrison County, Mississippi Sheriff's Office and also had been arrested by the Attorney General's Office on five Home Repair Fraud charges. 

Additional cases are pending against Baria in Jackson County and Hancock County.   In March, 2007, Baria was found to have moved from Mississippi to Columbus, Georgia.  He waived extradition and was returned to Mississippi by the Harrison County Sheriff's Department.  He posted bond on all charges and was released in June, 2007.  Baria was scheduled for trial on two cases in April of 2008, but failed to appear for the trial.  Baria sent a message through his fiancee to the court that he would not come to the trial and would never return to Mississippi.  Baria also issued a personal challenge "catch me if you can."

In June of 2008,  Harrison County Assistant District Attorney Charles Wood requested assistance from the FBI and asked that an Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution Warrant (UFAP) be issued.  On June 18, 2008, Federal Magistrate Judge John Roper signed the UFAP Warrant and a national search ensued.

Investigation revealed that Baria and his fiancee, Erica Brant, left their residence in Columbus, Georgia and fled to Tucson, Arizona.  In Arizona, Baria used his fiancee's former husband's identifying information to obtain an Arizona driver's license in the name of Todd Christian Brant.  In late August, Baria and Brant fled to Las Vegas, Nevada.  In October, 2008, Baria was placed on the FBI's fugitive web page as a top fugitive. 

After being involved in a violent altercation with a camper in the Lake Mead National Park, Baria was confronted by National Park Service Officers and then fled into the desert.  Baria was tracked through the desert by both FBI Agents and Park Rangers and was eventually arrested at a Lake Mead campground site.

Baria's capture is the result of a five-month joint fugitive investigation between the Harrison County Sheriff's Office and the FBI.  An investigator from the Harrison County Sheriff's Office, who is assigned to the FBI Office to work important fugitive matters, assisted on  this case.

Baria is currently being held at the Clark County, Nevada Detention Center, awaiting extradition  to Mississippi. 

The public is reminded that a warrant for arrest contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt.  Defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial, at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.