Sex Offender Manhunt Ends at Hempfest

Aug. 21, 2010— -- A registered sex offender was arrested in a Seattle park with the aid of a local television news crew on Friday.

Registered sex offender Ferrell David Arnold, wanted for forgery and grand theft, was captured just ahead of Hempfest, an annual gathering held in Seattle's Myrtle Edwards Park.

Arnold, 32, was being held on a $100,000 bond for forgery and grand theft charges in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho.

On Wednesday, Arnold had been granted a 24-hour furlough by the court, but an arrest warrant was quickly issued after he did not return to jail on Thursday as scheduled.

After receiving a tip that Arnold was at the park for Hempfest, approximately two dozen police searched Myrtle Edwards Park for about an hour, but were unable to locate the suspect among those setting up for the festival, which is the world's largest annual gathering advocating decriminalization of marijuana.

Having heard about the manhunt on their scanners, a crew from ABC News Seattle affiliate KOMO-TV headed to Myrtle Edwards Park to cover the search.

KOMO TV's Lindsay Cohen said she was familiar with the park because she frequently runs there. She and her cameraman took two parallel paths while listening in on police scanners to monitor where the suspect might have been located.

Cohen's cameraman noticed a man that he thought might be Arnold, so the two approached him and his friends for interviews about the upcoming festival, she said.

Initially Arnold was reluctant to be interviewed, claiming it was his first year at the festival and that he has nothing to say. Cohen said she briefly interviewed his friends and then turned to ask Arnold a few questions.

When asked what he was most looking forward to about Hempfest, Arnold replied: "Meeting some new people. Different life."

Cohen asked Arnold his name, which he claimed to be David Arnos, and that he lived in northern Idaho. At this point the KOMO crew flagged down two officers, who swept in to arrest the suspect.

"We both realized that when we asked him his name, he had just tweaked it slightly," Cohen said. "It was when he said that he was from Coeur D'Alene that the light bulb really went off."

Sgt. D.J. Hall of the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department confirmed to KOMO News that Arnold is being held in custody and will be extradited to Idaho. One of the men interviewed by Cohen was brought in for questioning and released.

Arnold and a second person are now also suspected of stealing a car from eastern Washington that was recovered near Myrtle Edwards Park.