— A search for a missing man switched to a manhunt for a fugitive Monday.

The Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office has been looking for Ronald Ernesto Sanders, 46, since Friday in a missing-person investigation. Sanders has not been heard from since Aug. 2, when he left a Muskogee house at 1611 Fairmont St.

While gathering background on Sanders’ possible whereabouts, Sheriff’s Investigator Faye Banks learned that he is wanted in a $100,000 arrest warrant.

Banks turned over the information on the warrant to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Dan David said: “We don’t consider him a missing man. Certainly, we don’t want anything bad to happen to the man, but we consider him a fugitive.”

Online court records show Sanders was charged Oct. 23, 2009, with first-degree burglary and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

David said the Marshals Service had “adopted” the case because of the severity of the charges.

A court document states that Sanders entered a house at 1128 Turner St., occupied and possessed by John Hollifield, on Oct. 5, 2009. It says Sanders   entered through the front doorway “with the intent to commit the crime of assault and battery.”

Inside the house, Sanders allegedly struck a juvenile, identified as R.H. Jr., with an aluminum baseball bat.

Banks said that Sanders, who was living in Florida, returned to Muskogee in late July to visit family. He disappeared a day before he was expected to return to Florida.

Banks said she drove through the neighborhood where Sanders was last seen and told residents to report suspicious sights, activities or smells.

Banks said a car rental business already had picked up the car Sanders drove. Sanders’ luggage — a suitcase and two paper sacks — sits in the hallways of the sheriff’s investigations office.

“Still haven’t heard from anyone about him,” Banks said. “Still wondering what happened.”

Sanders is described as 5 feet 6 inches tall, 155 pounds with brown eyes and gray hair. He moved to Florida from Muskogee in 2009, Banks said.

David said anyone with information regarding Sanders’ whereabouts can call the Marshals Service at (918) 687-2523.

Reach Dylan Goforth at (918) 684-2903 or dgoforth@muskogeephoenix.com.

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Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Ronald Ernesto Sanders can call the U.S. Marshals Service at (918) 687-2523.

Sanders, 46, is named in a $100,000 arrest warrant in connection with a 2009 burglary and assault. He is wanted for allegedly illegally entering a house and beating a juvenile male with an aluminum ball bat in 2009.