Dog the Bounty Hunter joins hunt for Maple Shade fugitive

MANSFIELD, Ohio — Dog the Bounty Hunter said he is getting involved in the search for Shawn Christy, the Maple Shade native who has eluded the FBI after making online threats to kill President Donald Trump and law enforcement.

Christy, whose last known address was in McAdoo, Pennsylvania, threatened to harm or kill cops and a district attorney along with Trump in Facebook posts between June 3 and June 12, according to an alert from the FBI. He has been on the run, with sightings in Maryland and Pennsylvania, all summer.

The U.S. Marshals Service says Shawn Richard Christy stole a truck Sunday from a factory in McAdoo, and fled after abandoning it around 5 p.m. Sunday on Interstate 71 in the Mansfield area of northern Ohio.

Duane Chapman, a.k.a. the Bounty Hunter, told the Mansfield News Journal he had been hired by a friend of the Christy family and said he already has a "hot lead." Chapman said he has delivered messages to Christy but did not disclose details.

He told the newspaper he hoped he could get Christy to surrender because he is not a career criminal and doesn't think he is armed.

Christy's parents said they received a Facebook message from their son last Thursday which said he broke his knee in Maryland which slowed him down but would not stop him from completing his "mission."

In earlier posts Christy said he was going to shoot Trump in the head and use "lethal force" against any law enforcement that tried to stop him. A red pickup truck Christy stole in Maryland was tracked by the FBI to Rush, Pennsylvania in August.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ.

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