Ohio’s ‘most dangerous’ man now on the lose after Judge grants unsupervised furlough for daughters funeral
Thomas McDonald
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One of Ohio’s most dangerous individuals is on the loose after Federal Judge Solomon Oliver allowed him to attend a funeral with his mother with no supervision.
Fletcher, named one of Akron, Ohio’s “most dangerous individuals,” was jailed without bond when his young daughter died earlier this month. He requested that Federal Judge Solomon Oliver permit him to attend the funeral services. Prosecutors approved the temporary release but asked that U.S. Marshals escort Fletcher to and from the funeral. They deemed him a flight risk and a threat to the community.
However, Judge Oliver allowed Fletcher to be released without a U.S. Marshal escort nor a GPS tracker. He walked out of prison with his mother on Wednesday morning and has since not returned. He was ordered back by 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Joe Fletcher has a lengthy criminal record, including cocaine trafficking, gun possession, and domestic violence. He went viral on Facebook in 2018 after going live on the social media platform to brag about murdering someone and also encouraging the killing of police officers.
“Joe L. Fletcher, a current inmate at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta (USP Atlanta), has been indicted by a federal grand jury following a Facebook video posting that showed Fletcher in his prison cell talking on a contraband phone with family members and friends,” the Northern District of Georgia’s U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a press release at the time. “During the conversations, Fletcher bragged about his ability to possess a phone in prison, called himself “a motivational speaker for gangsters,” and also claimed responsibility for a 2010 murder in Ohio.”
“What happened happened, the streets is the streets,” Fletcher said on Facebook live. “Everyone know I did it, I did it yeah,” regarding a 2010 murder.
“This inmate was particularly proud of himself when he posted a lengthy interactive video on his Facebook page that showed him talking on a contraband phone from inside his prison cell,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. Pak. “He made a further claim that he committed a murder in another state.
After he was paroled, he was arrested in 2019 for beating his girlfriend. At that time, a judge ordered him to leave Ohio. Nearly one year later, he was back in Ohio and led police on a highspeed chase.
Fletcher once again took to Facebook live during that chase and recorded himself saying, “Look, if the police come, f–k the police, I’m shooting them. If them b—-es at the end of these woods, I’m shooting at those b—-es.”
U.S. Marshals are now offering a $5,000 reward for Fletcher’s capture, according to the Barberton Herald.
The Independent Chronicle reached out to Judge Oliver. His staff told us that he “has no comment.”