Home Tampa Press Releases 2010 FBI Celebrates Anniversary of “Top Ten” Program
Info
This is archived material from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) website. It may contain outdated information and links may no longer function.

FBI Celebrates Anniversary of “Top Ten” Program

FBI Tampa March 10, 2010
  • Special Agent Dave Couvertier (813) 253-1033

TAMPA, FL—Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Steven E. Ibison announced today that Sunday, March 14, 2010, marks the FBI’s celebration of the 60th anniversary of the “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” program.

The “Top Ten” program is designed to publicize particularly dangerous fugitives. It is an extremely important law enforcement tool and media involvement is crucial to its success.

The Top Ten program began from a newspaper story in late 1949. A reporter for International News Service asked the FBI for the names and descriptions of the “toughest guys” the Bureau would like to capture. The story had so much appeal and generated so much positive publicity that on March 14, 1950, former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover implemented the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives program. From the time of its inception, 494 fugitives have been placed on the Top Ten list and 463 have been apprehended or located.

Since March 14, 1950, the FBI Tampa Division has added four fugitives to the Top Ten list:

  • Billy Owens Williams was the first fugitive from the Tampa Field Office to be added to the Top Ten list. Williams was placed on the list on July 10, 1959 for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution - kidnapping and armed robbery, Tampa, Florida. Williams was arrested on March 4, 1960.
  • Earl Edwin Austin was placed on the list on October 12, 1979, for bank robbery and parole violations, Sarasota and Pinellas County, Florida. He was captured on March 1, 1980.
  • Robert Alan Litchfield was placed on the list on January 20, 1987, in connection with a bank robbery in Orlando, Florida. He was arrested on May 20, 1987.
  • Roger Lee Jones was the last fugitive from the Tampa Division to be placed on the list, May 29, 1988, for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution - lewd and lascivious assault on a child (involving three different children), Sarasota County, Florida. He was located on March 3, 1989.

In addition, from 1955 to 1989, nine other Top Ten fugitives were located in Central and Southwest Florida (Lake Wales, Punta Gorda, Sanford, Gulfport, Tampa, Lakeland, Orlando, and Treasure Island).

Information about today’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives can be found on the Internet, television, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, podcasts, cell phone applications, and digital billboards. As technology continues to advance and innovative applications surface, the FBI intends to utilize all the tools available to publicize the Top Ten fugitives and engage the public in helping to locate them. More information about the Top Ten fugitives is available on the FBI’s Internet home page at www.fbi.gov. A complete list and photographs of fugitives profiled in the program can be found at http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/topten-history/top-ten-photos.