ESCAPEE CAUGHT BECAUSE HE ATTEMPTED TO AVOID PAYMENT OF SUBWAY FARE

Bob Walsh says: One would think that if a guy were on the run he would try to not break dumb, small laws and risk exposure. One would be wrong.

FEDERAL PRISON ESCAPEE CAUGHT JUMPING BART FARE GATE
By Ellen Huet

San Francisco Chronicle
November 30, 2012

A convicted bank robber who walked out of his medium-security federal prison near Santa Barbara last week was caught five days later trying to cheat BART out of its fare at the Powell Station in San Francisco, BART police said.

Authorities said Buchon Buchanan, 40, escaped from Lompoc prison last week and the U.S. Marshals Service issued a no-bail arrest warrant for him.

Buchanan admitted to robbing or attempting to rob 22 banks in the Bay Area and in Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange counties. He was arrested in San Francisco in 2003, hours after he bought a book titled “The Big Bad Book of American Bank Robbery,” and was sentenced to nine years in prison.

But after he escaped early last week, he found his way back to San Francisco.

He was arrested by BART police Sunday afternoon after forcing his way through the orange fare gates at Powell Station. Officers then discovered he was wanted for escape.

“He didn’t try to run away or lie about his name,” BART police spokeswoman Officer Era Jenkins said. “When officers asked him why he didn’t process his ticket, he just said, ‘I don’t have any money.’ Maybe he was ready to go back.”

When Buchanan was arrested in 2003, he also apparently gave up when confronted and told officers, “You got me, you got me.”