Seattle - A 21 year-old man from Cleveland County, Oklahoma was taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Seattle-Tacoma Airport last Sunday when he returned to the United States from Okinawa, Japan.
Burgess, is currently serving in the U.S. Navy, and was in the process of being reassigned from Camp Hansen, Okinawa to his new duty station at Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton, in Bremerton Washington.
Christopher Ryan Burgess was taken into custody after a name check resulted in the discovery of a warrant out of Cleveland County, OK in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database. The warrant had recently been issued on November 9, 2011.
CBP officers held Burgess until the Port of Seattle Police responded and took custody of Burgess for extradition to Cleveland County.
"CBP officers at Sea-Tac International Airport continuously target and apprehend wanted fugitives arriving in the United States," said Area Port Director Mark Wilkerson. "Our efforts, in coordination with state and local law enforcement agencies are part of the ongoing effort to keep communities safe."
NCIC is a centralized automated data base designed to share information among law enforcement agencies including outstanding warrants for a wide range of offenses. CBP officers at Sea-Tac have made numerous previous arrests of individuals wanted for a wide range of offenses from local misdemeanors to felonies.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.