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Bin Laden was one of
the world's most wanted terrorists before his death in a May US special forces
raid in Pakistan. Eric Justin Toth, 30, is not accused of killing anyone, but
of producing child pornography.
The
former school teacher and camp counsellor has been on the run since 2008, when
he was indicted on federal charges in the state of Maryland after child
pornography was found on a camera he had used at a school, officials say.
The
FBI has followed him through Illinois, Indiana and out west to Arizona, but the
trail ran cold.So on Tuesday, the
bureau added Mr Toth to its Ten Most Wanted list, replacing the al-Qaeda leader
who was killed by US forces last year."We
have always counted on the public's support to help capture fugitives and solve
cases," Mike Kortan, a bureau spokesman, said in a statement."The
addition of Eric Toth to the Top Ten list illustrates how important it is to
get this individual off the streets and into custody."The
FBI first drew up a Ten Most Wanted list in 1950 when a reporter asked the
bureau for the names and descriptions of the "toughest guys" on the
run.Since
then, the list has proven a remarkably successful publicity programme, FBI
officials sayOf 495 men and women
on the list since then, 465 have been captured or located. Of those, 153 were
nabbed after a tip from the public, the FBI says.The
ten individuals on the list are not ranked.To
be included on the list, a fugitive must have a federal warrant for his or her
arrest and must be a real menace to society - someone with the capacity to do
continued harm if he or she remains on the run. He or she must also be bad
enough to warrant a $100,000 (£62,900) reward.The case agents
searching for the fugitive will have exhausted other leads and believe the
publicity will help find him or her. (In cases that don't make the list, agents
may feel they are closing in on the bad guy and the publicity will drive him
further underground.)The
FBI adds fugitives to the list by canvassing its field offices for suggestions,
analysing the most worthy cases, then forwarding those up the bureau's chain of
command until they receive final approval from Director Robert Mueller."Over
time, the top 10 list has in some ways mirrored the criminal investigative
interests of the bureau and the priorities of the day," says John Fox, the
bureau's official historian.In
the 1960s and 1970s, violent anti-Vietnam War radicals like Bernardine Dohrn,
Katherine Power, and Leo Burt featured on the list,
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