Looking at the Wiregrass’ most wanted list

Identifying suspects in crimes is sometimes only part of the battle in bringing them to justice. Catching them and getting them into court can be the more difficult part.

Area authorities are looking for numerous people, wanted for crimes ranging from capital murder to sodomy and sex abuse, some dating back to the early 1990s.

Wiregrass Most Wanted:
 

Wiregrass authorities are looking for seven men who are now members of Wiregrass Most Wanted. Anyone with information about the following people is urged to call their local law enforcement agency.

· Wiregrass Most Wanted

Cornellious Benton, 24, faces a capital murder warrant charging him as one of two alleged gunmen in the slaying of 28-year-old Christopher James Woods during a burglary at his Dothan home. Woods was shot to death on Nov. 13, 2008. Records show Benton was charged with using a handgun to shoot Woods in the hip.

Tawuan Justin Townes, 18, is being held in the Houston County Jail without bond on a pending capital murder charge for his alleged involvement.

Houston County District Attorney Doug Valeska said criminals are presumed innocent, but normally people who are innocent don’t flee from authorities with pending charges against them.

“Any felon who’s committed a crime against the state, there’s a victim, and we need to get justice for them,” Valeska said. “There’s no justice for the state or the victim until the alleged is arrested and brought before a jury.”

At least five other people charged with sex crimes, drug trafficking or armed robbery are wanted for their failure to show up for trial in other area counties.

Assistant Coffee County District Attorney Tom Anderson said authorities are looking for Manuel Guerrero, 39, after he failed to appear for court on a first-degree rape charge from 2002. He said Guerrero had been charged with picking up a woman from a nightclub in downtown Dothan, then taking her back to Enterprise where he allegedly raped her. Anderson said Guerrero posted his bond, but failed to show up for his scheduled trial date in 2003. A second assailant has already been convicted.

Anderson also said Pike County authorities are looking for Deo Nicio Barajas Barragan, 30, of Montgomery, after he failed to show up for trial in August on the trafficking marijuana charges he faces. Anderson said Pike County and Troy Drug Task Force seized more than 20 pounds of marijuana during the summer of 2008, during Barragan’s arrest.

The following three people are wanted by Houston County authorities:

- Robert Anthony Simmons, 55, of Opp, on charges that he sexually assaulted a 7-year-old girl. He failed to show up for his trial date in 1993 for a felony first-degree sodomy and felony first-degree sex abuse charge.

- Danny Shackleford, 32, failed to show up for trial earlier this month for a felony first-degree robbery charge. Shackleford was charged for his involvement in a robbery in the Dixie community that also left 34-year-old Marzine McMillian with a gunshot wound to the side.

- Brandon Bell, 28, of East Newton Street, failed to show up for court in August for a delinquency hearing on his criminally negligent homicide charge. He pleaded guilty in the death of Richard Smith Jr. in June 2007. His suspended sentence was revoked after he failed to report to court, and now he faces a year in jail.