Peter Michael Russell, convicted of two high-profile Erie burglaries decades ago, faked his suicide to avoid prosecution in 1984.
He was found after 10 years, sentenced to prison and released.
In 2003, he disappeared again in yet another attempt to outrun the authorities in Erie.
Russell, once described in court as a "soldier" in a local organized-crime faction, has turned up once more.
He is now 61 years old, very much alive -- and still very much wanted by the law.
Erie police on Friday arrested Russell in two outstanding cases -- a forgery investigation from December 2002 and a hit-and run from July 2002 -- after police in Las Vegas apprehended him there on Jan. 12, officials said.
The Las Vegas police picked up Russell on a bench warrant that Erie County Judge Michael E. Dunlavey issued in 2003 over a probation violation in a prior burglary case, Erie County Chief Deputy Sheriff Jon Habursky said.
The Las Vegas police encountered Russell after responding to a call for a domestic disturbance at a residence on Jan. 12, said Officer Laura Metzler, a police spokeswoman. She said the police filed no charges over the reported disturbance, but checked the records on Russell and arrested him on the warrant from Erie County.
Erie County sheriff's deputies flew to Las Vegas to get Russell two weeks ago. Once he was at the Erie County Prison, the Erie police arrested him in the forgery and hit-and-run cases.
Russell, who was on the Erie police's most-wanted list for some time, was arraigned by Erie 2nd Ward District Judge Paul Urbaniak and ordered held at the Erie County Prison on $10,250 bond.
Russell remained there on Tuesday. His preliminary hearings in the 2002 cases are set for Monday.
Russell was a well-known fugitive decades ago. On Sept. 10, 1984, he was to appear at the first day of his trial on charges that he burglarized a home on East 12th Street of $29,000 in cash and $500 to $600 in silver coins in 1979.
Instead of showing up, Russell faked his suicide by leaving behind a pile of clothes, a Bible and a bogus suicide note at Shades Beach in Harborcreek Township.
He eluded authorities until police in San Bernardino, Calif., near Los Angeles, arrested him in 1994.
Back in Erie, Russell pleaded guilty to the East 12th Street burglary and another heist, which netted $65,000 from a residence on Royal Avenue in Erie in 1982.
Police said the high-profile cases were related to an investigation of organized crime in Erie, including the involvement of purported racketeer Samuel "Fat Sam" Esper, who entered the federal witness-protection program.
Russell's past surfaced at his sentencing in the burglary cases in Erie County Court in January 1995. His lawyer, A.J. Adams, then an assistant public defender, described Russell as a "soldier" for an organized-crime faction.
"He has spent the last 10 years of his life looking over his shoulder for either the government or organized crime," Adams said in court.
Erie County Judge Stephanie Domitrovich sentenced Russell to two to five years in state prison and ordered him to perform 10 years of probation, including 500 hours of community service. Russell was paroled in May 1997, according to the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole.
Five years later, Erie police charged him in the hit-and-run and forgery cases. He disappeared before police could arrest him.
Police accused Russell of leaving the scene of an accident at West 18th and Sassafras streets in June 2002.
In the other case, according to court records, police accused Russell of forging five checks and conspiring to forge two others that an Erie convenience store cashed in late December 2002. The police said the checks totaled $1,167.
Russell, his latest foray as a fugitive over, is now facing another prosecution -- 17 years after his long-awaited court appearance in January 1995.
"All I remember is that he faked his own death," Adams, Russell's former lawyer, said on Tuesday. "I wish I could remember more. But 17 years -- there's many clients in between."
Copyright 2012 - Erie Times-News, Pa.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
