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Marisa Anders

Claiborne Progress

A fugitive who was on the run since July turned himself in to police early Monday morning.

Michael Shane Baker called Captain David Honeycutt at his residence around 12:15 a.m. Monday to turn himself in.

According to the arrest report, Baker told Honeycutt, of the Claiborne County Sheriff’s Department, he was “tired of life on the run” and was willing to turn himself in to Honeycutt. At approximately 2 a.m. Honeycutt along with Sgt. Gary Ruskowski and Deputy Eric Fraley arrived at a residence on West Jacksboro Road where Baker was taken into custody without incident. Baker was on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Ten Most Wanted list.

He was taken into custody at approximately 2:15 a.m. Monday, said Sheriff David Ray.

Baker was placed on the TBI’s Ten Most Wanted list after he was indicted by a Campbell County Grand Jury for 22 counts of especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor and 22 counts of solicitation of sexual exploitation of a minor.

A former Lafollette police officer, Baker had ties to the Claiborne County area and was suspected of living in the vicinity.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation contacted the Lafollette Police Department several months ago in reference to Officer Michael Shane Baker allegedly having inappropriate contact with the female via the Internet and through text messages, according to a press release from the LPD.

Officials with the LPD contacted the Knoxville Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Division, and the joint investigation resulted in the 44-count felony indictment from the Campbell County Grand Jury, which was handed down July 11.

The LPD, along with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Claiborne County Sheriff’s Department had been searching for Baker since then.

Baker was taken to the Claiborne County Corrections Center, where he was awaiting transportation to Campbell County to face the charges.