Toccoa fugitive captured after intense manhunt

Photo byStephens County Sheriff's Office

A Toccoa fugitive is back in custody after authorities say he cut off his GPS ankle monitor while under house arrest and went on the run. Stephens County sheriff’s deputies arrested 38-year-old Joel Keller following an intense 13-hour manhunt.

According to the sheriff’s office, Keller was under house arrest on May 17 when he cut off the monitor and fled. Five days later, authorities asked for the public’s help to find him.

On May 24, deputies went to a home on Bart Holcomb Road in Toccoa to serve an arrest warrant.

“As investigators and deputies were closing in on the target location, they observed an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) recklessly traveling out of a driveway and away from the deputies,” a news release from the sheriff’s office states.

According to officials, deputies chased the vehicle and saw the driver, identified as Keller, turn behind a home and crash into a guide wire. Keller ran into the woods where deputies lost sight of him.

Deputies set up a perimeter and called K-9 units to the scene. At the ATV crash site, authorities say they recovered a small amount of suspected methamphetamine, a handgun, and Keller’s cell phone.

Charges

Keller was out of jail on bond for aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer. The judge ordered Keller to wear an electronic monitoring device as part of his bond condition. Keller now faces multiple other charges, including escape, interference with an electronic monitoring device, fleeing from an officer, possession of methamphetamine, possession of a firearm while committing a crime, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Hart County also issued a probation warrant against him.

The Stephens County Sheriff’s Office says it is “immensely grateful for the citizen support that was given after a request was publicly sent out for information leading to the arrest of this menacing criminal.”

Multiple state and local law enforcement agencies also asisted with Keller’s arrest, including the sheriff’s offices in Banks, Franklin, and Habersham counties, Georgia State Patrol and GSP Aviation, state Department of Corrections, and the Toccoa and Commerce police departments.