U.S. Marshals say Dennis Russell Nagle was tracked for years before his capture.
WHEELING, WV — A convicted Northeast Ohio sex offender who authorities say spent about 15 years on the run was arrested late Monday in Wheeling after investigators received a tip that he was hiding in the area, the U.S. Marshals Service said.
The arrest ends a long search for Dennis Russell Nagle, 59, who had been listed among the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force’s most wanted fugitives since 2010. Officials said Nagle faces pending Ohio charges tied to sex-offender registration rules and an escape case, and he will remain jailed in West Virginia while extradition is arranged.
Investigators said Nagle’s capture highlights how old warrants can follow fugitives for years, especially when cases involve children. The Marshals service said Nagle’s underlying sex offense involved a victim under 13. Local and federal officers described the case as part of a broader push to close long-running fugitive cases, including those involving missing children and sexual predators.
Deputies with the U.S. Marshals Mountain State Fugitive Task Force arrested Nagle late Monday night in Wheeling, according to the Marshals service. Officials said the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force received information that he might be in the city and relayed it to task force members in West Virginia, who moved quickly to the area to check the lead. When officers made contact, the Marshals service said, Nagle tried to hide who he was by giving a false name, Russell Keener, before admitting his true identity.
Richland County Sheriff Steve Sheldon said the arrest showed the value of long-term cooperation between local agencies and the regional task force. “This is an incredible example of the enduring partnership between the Sheriff’s Office and the task force,” Sheldon said. He added that investigators do not stop looking for people accused of harming children, calling the case a reminder that “law enforcement will never give up” on suspects who victimize the community’s most vulnerable people.
Nagle’s criminal history stretches back years in Northeast Ohio, with court records and law enforcement summaries describing multiple steps that led to the warrants that followed him. Court records cited by local outlets show he pleaded guilty to attempted gross sexual imposition in Trumbull County, and the Marshals service said he was found guilty in 2009 in a case involving a child under 13. Records described a period of court supervision and later incarceration, including a 14-month prison sentence that officials said required him to register as a sex offender after his release.
Authorities said the fugitive case began to build in 2010, when they allege Nagle failed to properly report his address. The Marshals service said he failed to provide notice of where he lived and was charged in Richland County in October 2010 with failure to provide a change of address and with escape. After those warrants were issued, the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force began searching for him, and officials said he became a regular feature in outreach efforts aimed at finding wanted fugitives.
Over the years, investigators ran down “multiple tips and leads” about where Nagle might have gone, and officials said those leads pointed to several states. The Marshals service said investigators looked into possible ties in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Florida and West Virginia. Local reporting described the same pattern, with occasional clues but no confirmed capture until this week. Officials did not say in the announcement where Nagle lived during the years he was missing, how he supported himself, or whether he used additional aliases beyond the name he gave officers during the arrest.
Task force officials also framed the case as part of a broader effort to work older files that can remain active for years. U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott, the top Marshals official in northern Ohio, said the arrest was “the third case closed in two weeks” involving a fugitive who had been missing for more than eight years. Elliott said investigators tracked recent fugitives to Louisiana, Florida and West Virginia, and he credited a specialized team that focuses on enforcement and recovery work alongside the regional task force.
Law enforcement agencies use multijurisdictional task forces to handle cases that cross city and state lines, combining federal resources with local knowledge. The Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force includes divisions in multiple cities, including Akron, Canton, Cleveland, Lorain, Mansfield, Painesville, Toledo and Youngstown, according to the Marshals service. Officials said the same network supports cold-case work, sex-offender investigations and missing-child investigations, allowing teams to shift resources when credible leads surface.
Sex-offender registration cases often hinge on paperwork, dates and addresses, but officials say the rules are meant to help law enforcement track people convicted of certain offenses and to alert agencies when someone stops reporting. In this case, authorities said the alleged failure to report a change of address and the escape charge became the warrants that kept Nagle on the most-wanted list. The Marshals service did not describe the underlying details of the escape allegation in its announcement, and court filings related to the pending charges were not included in the agency’s public summary.
Investigators said the arrest does not end the legal process. Nagle is expected to remain in custody in West Virginia until Ohio authorities complete extradition back to Richland County, where the pending charges were filed. Officials did not announce an extradition date, and they did not say when Nagle might make his first court appearance in Ohio. Extradition timelines can vary based on court scheduling and transport logistics, and authorities often begin the process soon after an arrest in another state.
In addition to the Ohio charges, the Marshals service said investigators in northern Ohio and northern West Virginia plan to review whether federal charges could apply under the Adam Walsh Act. The agency did not specify which potential federal counts are being examined, and it did not announce any federal indictment. Elliott said the teams would keep working similar cases, describing the arrests as a warning to fugitives that investigators will continue to pursue them regardless of distance or time.
In Wheeling, officials provided only a limited description of the arrest scene, but they said the key moment came when the tip placed Nagle in the area and officers moved to confirm it. The Marshals service said Nagle tried to conceal his identity when officers approached him, a tactic that officials said has appeared in other recent fugitive arrests. Local reporting in Ohio also noted that recent cases handled by the same Marshals unit involved suspects who tried to use false names after years on the run.
Nagle’s capture may also bring a close to a case that had been repeatedly highlighted to the public. The Marshals service said he was featured as a weekly fugitive and included in multiple releases of the task force’s most wanted fugitives over the years. Those public pushes, along with follow-ups on tips, kept the case active long after the 2010 warrants were issued, officials said.
As of Sunday, Nagle remained in custody in West Virginia while authorities worked on extradition back to Ohio, and investigators said they were reviewing whether federal charges might be appropriate. The next milestone will be an initial court proceeding connected to extradition and a transfer to Richland County for the pending Ohio case.
Author note: Last updated February 15, 2026.