By the time he turned 23, Keshan Mitchell was wreaking havoc throughout northern California: He had murdered a 17-year-old boy and a bystander in Marysville. He had tried to kill his girlfriend while her small children looked on. He was wanted on federal narcotics and weapons-trafficking charges, and authorities had already seized several assault rifles from him.

Mitchell was such an artful dodger that by the time his story was shown on America's Most Wanted -- he had so effectively eluded police that they felt it necessary to cast a wider net and take his story to the American viewing public --he was also the target of a four-agency task force. Realizing that his days of outrunning the law in northern California were limited, he headed south to Riverside, Calif., with the U.S. Marshals Service, the California Justice Department, the Moreno Valley Police Department, and the Riverside County Sheriff's Office in pursuit. That's when Customs air units were called in.

The Customs Service's aviation unit in Riverside is frequently called upon to provide aerial surveillance for other law enforcement agencies, a request they readily honor.

Photo Credit: Tina Durell

Pilots Chris Thornton and T.J. Pederson and AEO Mack Weidhase.

The topography of the Pacific region that includes the counties of Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino, with its hills, mountains, and densely packed residential and commercial construction, makes successful ground detection almost an "anyone's guess" proposition. For this reason, a key mission of the Customs Riverside Air Unit is to provide aviation support to state and local law enforcement agencies.

On April 24, 2001, the four-agency task force turned to the air unit for help. Pilots T.J. Pederson and Chris Thornton took out an A-star 350 helicopter during the day to track some of Mitchell's suspected accomplices in the Los Angeles area. They returned to base at dusk to switch to a Forward-Looking Infra Red (FLIR) detector-equipped Black Hawk, an aircraft much better suited for nighttime surveillance. They also picked up Aviation Enforcement Officer (AEO) Mark Weidhase to aid in the search.

Tailing Mitchell's accomplices paid off big-time. They were able to follow Mitchell to a home in a residential section of Riverside County. Just before midnight, the Riverside County Sheriff's negotiator talked him and an accomplice into surrendering.

Without Customs help, it would be anyone's guess as to whether they'd have found Mitchell at all, never mind finding him so quickly. The skill of the aircrew, along with the high-tech equipment on board the helicopter, allowed them to provide critical information to the SWAT team that surrounded the house - information that allowed the SWAT team to arrest the suspect safely and without incident.