Fugitive sees self on Comcast's 'Police Blotter' program, calls U.S. Marshals

By Kristi E. Swartz

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

So who watches that "Police Blotter" program on Comcast cable’s On Demand service anyhow?

Fugitives do from time to time, apparently.

That’s how the U.S. Marshals’ Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force ended up nabbing Chineska Jackson.

Jackson, from Savannah, was wanted for violating her probation, officials said. She was arrested in 2007 and charged with conspiracy to make and possess counterfeit securities, said James Ergas, Supervisory Inspector for the Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force.

She violated her probation the following November, he said.

Meanwhile, Comcast, working with the U.S. Marshals, set up a program for the cable provider’s On Demand service. "Police Blotter," which started in Atlanta and a few other cities in 2008, shows the mugshots of someone who law enforcement is looking for and gives information about that person.

It’s somewhat of a local “America’s Most Wanted." That’s actually what Jackson told officers she was watching last November when she saw her photo on television.

“She called me on a Monday and said she saw herself on ‘America’s Most Wanted,’ but it ended up being on the 'Police Blotter' program,” Wendell Brock, an inspector with the U.S. Marshal’s Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force told the AJC on Friday.

Jackson told Brock she needed a week to turn herself in. Brock urged her to turn herself in earlier but said he would wait until the following Monday.

Brock also told the same thing to the fugitive's friend, who also saw Jackson on TV and called the task force office.

“The friend said [Jackson] would not turn herself in,” Brock told the AJC. “I said if she didn’t, I’d call [the friend] back on Tuesday.”

Jackson didn’t show on Monday, so the next day Brock called her friend and got an address of where she would be. Marshals went to the house and arrested Jackson the next day.

“She will probably go to prison for this,” he said.

Ergas said it’s not uncommon for fugitives to see themselves on TV and turn themselves in. But this is the first case where someone watching this local, On-Demand program has contacted the Marshal’s office.

The Marshal’s Southeast Regional Task Force coordinates the "Police Blotter" program and seeks input from federal, state and local agencies. Ergas said task force investigators gather cases that are the biggest priority for each county. From there, they pick the ones where it’s most likely that the public can help provide information.