Wanted Man Captured By Nevada Trooper

Robert Lawrence Dempsey

NEVADA – A Coffeeville man who has been on the run for almost a month was captured in Nevada last week and will be extradited back to Mississippi in the next week. Sheriff Lance Humphreys reported a warrant for sexual battery was issued on Robert Lawrence Dempsey on March 20, three weeks after allegations surfaced that he had molested a five year-old child. 

The sheriff speculated that Dempsey had left the area and circulated information in multiple media outlets asking for the public to be on the lookout for the fugitive. U.S. Marshals were also assisting in the search.

“A trooper stopped him in Clark County, Nevada,” the sheriff explained during last Friday’s supervisor meeting in Water Valley. Humphreys’ comments came as he requested out-of-state travel to make the 1,000 mile trip to Nevada to pick up Dempsey when extradition is approved. The sheriff explained that a transport company will charge $4,400 to pick him up and bring him back to Yalobusha County.

“We can do it a lot cheaper,” the sheriff explained, citing the cost for fuel, meals and lodging for the three-day trip. Humphreys said he and another deputy will make the trip, which will include an overnight stop in Amarillo, Texas, and another in Nevada on the trip to pick up the fugitive. The sheriff said he and the deputy will team drive on the 16-hour return trip home with Dempsey.