Chef arrested in San Diego 14 years after allegedly fleeing kidnapping charge

The chef of a trendy San Diego restaurant was arrested on allegations that he fled prosecution for an alleged kidnapping and assault 14 years ago.

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On Tuesday, the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Brian Anthony Williams, 50, on suspicion of fleeing Iowa, where he’d been charged in October 2012 with participating in the kidnapping, assault and shooting of a woman who was left in a field in Davenport, Iowa, the Marshals Service said in a news release. The U.S. Marshals allege Williams was using the name Troy Williams while living in San Diego and working as a chef. 

“This arrest is a perfect example of those who think they have bested law enforcement and evaded arrest,” Southern District of Iowa U.S. Marshal Ted Kamatchus said in the release. “Deputy U.S. Marshals remain resolute in their relentless pursuit of the most dangerous offenders in our society.”

The U.S. Marshals said Williams has appeared on local news stations for the past 14 years in cities on the border of Iowa and Illinois, informing the public of his fugitive status. In September, they “developed information” that Williams was in the San Diego area and had appeared in local news stories and TV segments under his assumed identity. 

In February, Times of San Diego published a story on Williams for Black History Month as the head chef at Miss B’s Coconut Club in Mission Beach, where he described himself as a New York native. He was also featured in a segment on KFMB-TV in January.

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“I’ve been here ten and a half years; he’s been here ten and a half years,” restaurant general manager Eddie Jurado told KNSD-TV. “He’s been running that kitchen for about eight or nine years since our first chef left, and he took it over.”

Williams was arrested at Miss B’s Coconut Club without incident. His pending charges in 2012 were first-degree kidnapping, assault causing serious injury, conspiracy to commit a felony and first-degree arson, the U.S. Marshals Service said in the news release. It’s unclear when he will be returned to Iowa.