News - Local

Tuesday, Nov. 03, 2009

Most-wanted suspects caught

Fugitive’s wife also arrested

HARRISON COUNTY — Two of South Mississippi’s most-wanted criminal suspects have been taken into custody on unrelated charges including fraud and burglary.

Christopher Lee Luther, 38, was among 20 people listed Sunday in the Sun Herald’s latest update on the region’s most wanted.

FBI agents and Hancock County deputies arrested Luther and his wife, Ashley Michell Luther, 23, on Monday after they found them living in the 10700 block of Lilinoe Way in Diamondhead.

Christopher Luther is accused of fraud in Harrison County, where he allegedly stole someone’s identity and defrauded area banks of about $25,000 through bad checks.

His bonds total $200,000 on the Harrison County charges, which include identity theft, false pretense and five counts of uttering forgery. Luther is wanted in Florida on felony charges of fraud and identity theft. He also is wanted on parole violations in Arizona and Louisiana for convictions on fraud, auto theft and larceny. His wife is charged with false pretense. Justice Court Judge Albert Fountain set Ashley Luther’s bond at $500,000. She also is wanted on similar charges in Arizona and Florida.

Harrison County Sheriff Melvin Brisolara said investigator Ron Werby, assigned to the FBI’s fugitive task force, had been investigating suspicions that Luther assumed the identity of John Doggett and passed forged checks at banks. Brisolara said the couple set up a business account and wrote checks against it before deposits were verified. The couple is held at the Harrison County jail.

Deputies began receiving tips about Luther’s whereabouts after the newspaper report, said Werby.

“We got a tremendous amount of evidence out of his house and we got two bad people off the streets,” Werby said.

The second most-wanted arrest was of 20-year-old Willie Julius Dove. He was wanted on a burglary charge for a break-in on Sept. 14 at a home in the 12100 block of Fisherman’s Trail in Gulfport. Officers found him in the 9300 block of U.S. 49. He was held in lieu of $20,000 bond.

At least 21 suspects have been caught since the Sun Herald began publishing the most-wanted series in November 2007.

Staff writer Margaret Baker, contributed to this story