Anderson County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested fugitive Jose Morales Martinez in the parking lot of the Main Street Oak Ridge shopping center today. Martinez was wanted in Georgia on charges of aggravated assault by strangulation and had been tracked by the U.S. Marshals Service Smoky Mountain Fugitive Task Force, with an ICE detainer pending against him.

During the arrest, he violently resisted and fled a short distance on foot before being taken into custody with the assistance of an Oak Ridge Police Department K-9 unit. Authorities confirmed the incident is fully resolved with no ongoing threat to the community. Anderson County Sheriff Russell Barker thanked federal and local law enforcement partners for their cooperation in removing the violent offender from the streets.