A $500 reward is offered for information leading to the capture of a man sought on cocaine charges who remains at large after a long, hot manhunt near Register Thursday.
    Ronnie Xavier Stovall, 27, West Parrish Street, is wanted on numerous charges, including selling cocaine, said Bulloch County Drug Suppression Team Capt. Rick Rountree.
    Stovall fled after an attempt to stop him following a delivery of cocaine to a location near Register, east of Ga. 46, he said. Georgia State Patrol troopers, Bulloch County Sheriff’s deputies, investigators and BCDST agents saturated the area between Cypress Lake Road near Register, Church Street and John R. Coleman Road, seeking Stovall, who “bush bonded” (fled on foot) into the woods and fields, said Bulloch County Sheriff’s Inv. Walter Deal.
    Rountree said the drug suppression team learned of a planned delivery of cocaine, and with help from the Georgia State Patrol, set up a perimeter and watched as Stovall made his delivery around 11 a.m. Thursday. Afterwards, when troopers tried to stop him, Stovall fled the scene in a two-tone brown Chevrolet S10, he said.
    Stovall crossed U.S. 301 South, heading west toward Register, and turned right onto Foster Williams Road.
    After passing John R. Coleman Road, where Foster Williams Road ends and the dirt portion of Church Street begins, Stovall abandoned his truck near an empty house. A woman, who Rountree did not identify, also fled, but was quickly apprehended, he said.
    As law enforcement officers searched the woods and fields, using a Georgia State Patrol helicopter and K-9 unit from Reidsville State Prison. Other deputies and troopers stood by on the dusty dirt road beside Stovall’s abandoned truck, which was standing with its doors wide open.
    Some deputies and troopers waded through tall cotton and thick woodlands looking for Stovall. The fugitive was spotted at least once as he exited some woods, removed his shirt and fled back into cover, Rountree said.
    The hunt lasted four hours, with the helicopter leaving to refuel before returning to fly over the area. Residents of homes in the area stood outside, fanning away the heat and shooing flies as they watched. The heat was so intense, patrol cars left running because of the need for the blue lights ran hot. Deputies returned from trips to convenience stores to provide water and other refreshments for those trekking through the woods in search of Stovall.
    Rountree said there have been warrants out for Stovall for two years, and this is not the first time he has led law enforcement officers on a chase. It was because of Stovall’s history of fleeing that the Bulloch County Drug Suppression Team requested assistance from the Georgia State Patrol, he said.
    Stovall stands 5’11” and weighs around 152 pounds.
    Anyone with information about Stovall’s whereabouts is asked to contact Rountree at (912) 764-1762, or the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office at (912) 764-8888. All calls will remain confidential, he said.