LEWISTON – One of Lewiston’s most wanted fugitives was captured in dramatic fashion Wednesday night when police on the ground and in a helicopter surrounded a house in Hollywood, Fla.

Antonio “Monk” Rembert, 30, was taken into custody about 6:30 p.m. after police said he attempted to flee on foot while more than a dozen officers waited to catch him.

Nobody was hurt during the arrest. By late Wednesday night, Rembert was in the Broward County Jail charged with aggravated assault, the result of a stabbing in Lewiston last September.

The arrest was the culmination of hours of communication between Lewiston police and the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office in Maine and two police departments in Florida.

At the start of his shift Wednesday afternoon, Lewiston police Sgt. Jeff Parshall received a tip from an informant that Rembert might be staying at a house in Hollywood, near Ft. Lauderdale.

Rembert was said to be staying at a house on Cleveland Street, not far from Interstate 95.

Parshall got on the phone with Androscoggin County Sheriff’s dispatcher Adam Davis, who contacted the District Attorney’s Office as well as police in Florida.

“I got that tip,” Parshall said. “And then we spent about two hours working the phones.”

In Florida, Hollywood police and Broward County Sheriff’s investigators quickly assembled a force and went to the house on Cleveland Street.

“I told them, this guy will run. He will try to escape,” Parshall said. “They got right on it. I was impressed.”

Meanwhile, at the ACO, dispatcher Davis was working the phones and teletypes, helping coordinate police forces and making sure legal paperwork was in order.

“I waited for the Hollywood Police Department to give me a call, which they did,” Davis said.

By about 7 p.m., both Davis and Parshall were told by police in Florida that Rembert was in custody. He was expected to be extradited to Maine.

Rembert has an extensive criminal history in the area, dating back to 1995 when he was arrested on a charge of threatening a store clerk with a lighter during a downtown robbery. In 1998, police arrested him on federal charges for brandishing a shotgun during a fight at Pleasantview Acres. He was sent to prison for three years, but police say he has been in more trouble since his release.

Police have been searching for Rembert on charges that he failed to show up in court to answer a charge of aggravated assault. That charge stems from a September incident during which police say Rembert stabbed a 22-year-old man several times in the chest and stomach.

The victim, Corey Hall, survived. Police say he was stabbed by Rembert during a fight in a hallway at 15 Pleasant St. in Auburn.

Rembert was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault, was later released from jail. Until Wednesday night, local, county and state police, along with the Central Maine Violent Crimes Task Force had been searching for him daily.

Rembert was recently featured on WGME-TV’s Fugitive File, where wanted suspects are featured and anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to alert police.

Lewiston police said Wednesday night that they had no knowledge of Rembert’s arrest being related to that effort.

In Florida on Wednesday night, a Broward County Sheriff’s dispatcher said officers were sent to a fatal pedestrian accident shortly after the capture of Rembert. Likewise, in Maine, police business returned to normal soon enough.

“Life continues as usual,” said Davis at the ASO. “I have paperwork on my desk and the police radio is still going.”