A man who had been on the run for more than a month after the reported abduction of his toddler son from a home in Clarkesville is now in custody.
The child was returned home hours after the incident on Sept. 20, but Charles Eric Chambers, 46, had remained at large. Chambers is the biological father of the 18-month-old boy, but he did not have custody of the child at the time he reportedly took him from the home on Railroad Avenue.
Lumpkin County Sheriff Stacy Jarrard said his deputies received a tip that Chambers was staying at a location near the U.S. Army Ranger Camp in the Dahlonega area. Acting on that information, the deputies - accompanied by agents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation - surrounded an abandoned chicken house and arrested Chambers without incident.
"The resident-owner there stated that they knew of him but did not know that he was wanted," Jarrard said. "He basically just thought he needed a place to stay. [Chambers] was living inside the chicken house."
The arrest occurred just before 10 a.m. Thursday.
Jarrard said he believed Chambers had been in Lumpkin County for about two weeks.
Jarrard said Chambers will not face charges in Lumpkin County.
Deputies with the Habersham County Sheriff's Office transported Chambers to the Habersham County Detention Center shortly after the arrest. At last report, authorities were in the process of booking Chambers.
