Authorities arrest Pineville man after a weeks-long manhunt

BELL COUNTY, Ky. (ABC 36 NEWS NOW) — A 27-year-old Pineville man is behind bars after a weeks-long manhunt following the discovery of drugs and firearms at his home.

The Bell County Sheriff’s Department and the U.S. Marshals Service Central Kentucky Fugitive Task Force apprehended Cameron Collins on Thursday, April 9, at Happy Mart in Pineville.

The department reported that Collins had been on the run since Feb. 24, when deputies and the Parole and Probation office executed a search warrant at his Doris Caroll Lane residence. During the search, authorities found around 68 grams of methamphetamine, three grams of heroin and fentanyl, eight rifles, seven pistols, and drug paraphernalia, including baggies, scales, and syringes.

Kentucky State Police also wanted Collins in connection with a cable theft in Frakes on April 2 involving another man who was previously arrested.

Collins is currently lodged in the Bell County Detention Center. He faces multiple charges, including being a fugitive from another state, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, seven counts of possession of a handgun by a convicted felon, buying or possessing drug paraphernalia, and first-degree, first-offense trafficking in a controlled substance for methamphetamine (greater than two grams), heroin, and carfentanil or fentanyl derivatives.