Portland, Oregon - A fugitive Oregon white supremacist considered a suspect in a string of bank robberies around the country has been arrested on a parole violation, federal officials say.
David McFarland, 29, was under supervised release after serving a prison term for a weapon-related conviction in Medford and was supposed to be reporting to a probation supervisor there.
The U.S. Marshals Service office said it coordinated McFarland's arrest Monday in Harvest, Ala., with the Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force. Marshals boxed in his car at an intersection following surveillance by local police and marshals.
Dale Ortmann, spokesman for the Marshals Service in Portland, said officers obtained permission from McFarland's girlfriend to search a house, where they found a gun similar to the weapon used in several bank robberies, along with buckets of processed marijuana.
The FBI says it considers McFarland the main suspect in armed bank robberies in several states and describes him as a "serial bank robber."
McFarland was convicted in 1999 of trying to buy a gun with identification from another convicted felon, and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
During his time at the federal penitentiary in Marion, Ill., he was associated with a white supremacist prison gang known as the "Dirty White Boys" and has both "Dirty White Boys" and "Aryan Brotherhood" tattoos, according to the Marshals Service.
Authorities say his criminal career included a drive-by shooting in Grants Pass when he was 15, followed by at least a dozen convictions in Grants Pass and Medford after he turned 18 for drugs, assault, theft, burglary, forgery, criminal mischief, car theft, reckless driving and unlawful possession of a weapon.
