Escapees

Police were searching yesterday for a 16-year-old Baltimore boy who, along with a 14-year-old, escaped Monday night from Victor Cullen Center, a secure facility for juvenile delinquents in Western Maryland. Maryland State Police described Brian Christopher Becker as a white, 5-foot-11, 180-pound male who might have injuries from climbing over a razor-wire security fence. A state law that took effect this year allows police to release information about juvenile escapees. The 14-year-old was captured yesterday in Prince George's County, where he lived before being sent to Victor Cullen.

RALEIGH, N.C. - An ailing 81-year-old North Carolina man who escaped from a Maryland prison 43 years ago was taken into custody yesterday to face extradition, a move his attorneys decried as a waste of time because of his age and poor health. Willie Parker, who suffers from several health problems, served about a quarter of his sentence for robbery with a deadly weapon before escaping in 1965. He was tracked down in February. Parker was arrested during a court hearing yesterday, said defense attorney Andrew Jackson.

The zebras made a run for it. Spotting a door ajar, three striped members of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus broke out yesterday from their temporary home in Baltimore's 1st Mariner Arena. But they didn't get far. Evidently bewildered by the bustle on Hopkins Place downtown, Mali, Giza and Lima -- geldings born in Missouri seven or eight years ago -- allowed themselves to be corralled by trainer Karin Houcke and two handlers within half a block of their exit point. No need for a lasso, since each animal wore a bridle.

After a 25-hour manhunt, sheriff's deputies in Florence, S.C., captured a convicted armed robber yesterday who had slipped out of his leg shackles at a downtown Baltimore courthouse and escaped last month. Police in Florence said they received a tip several days ago that Marvin Ray Jordan, 24, was in their area. Officers tracked him to a motel off Interstate 95 about 6 p.m. Thursday. A Florence police spokesman said Jordan managed to elude officers and was driven away by a friend in a rental vehicle.

A 16-year-old boy who escaped from a juvenile detention center in Baltimore County last month remained on the loose last night after he eluded Maryland State Police troopers who had tracked him to a house in Northeast Baltimore late Tuesday, authorities said. One of the troopers, Sgt. Steve W. Dulski, fired two shots at a Jeep Cherokee being driven by the youth, who police said backed out of an alley and trapped two law enforcement officers. It is believed that at least one bullet shattered the vehicle's rear window.

One of two teenagers who escaped a juvenile detention facility in Baltimore County last month was arrested last night in Baltimore, Maryland State Police said. Justin A. Russell, 15, was arrested without incident about 7:30 p.m. as he walked in the 3100 block of Sumter Ave. in Northwest Baltimore, police said. He was scheduled to be turned over to state Department of Juvenile Services officials last night. Russell and 16-year-old Davon Julius escaped from the Charles H. Hickey School the night of July 31. Police are still searching for Julius.

A man who escaped from Harford County authorities Jan. 24 and has left several stolen vehicles in his wake may have reached Alabama, where police recovered a stolen vehicle linked to him and believe he stole another there containing a rifle. Terrance Kassis Washington, 31, charged with bank robbery, was on his way to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center from the county detention center in Bel Air when he slipped out of his handcuffs, leg irons and belly chain and fled. Within hours, police said, Washington stole at least two vehicles in the county and another in Virginia as he headed south.

The search for an inmate who escaped Harford County authorities spread along the East Coast yesterday, as police said he likely fled Maryland. Terrence Kasses Washington, 31, slipped out of handcuffs, leg irons and a belly chain early Wednesday during a trip from a jail in Bel Air to a nearby hospital, a Harford County sheriff's spokesman said. When officers opened the door, Washington ran into nearby woods, police said. Yesterday, authorities found pickup trucks in Abingdon and Mecklenburg County, Va., that police believe Washington might have used.

An offender who escaped from the Cheltenham Youth Center more than two weeks ago by stealing a volunteer's van and crashing through a fence was apprehended Saturday by state police, authorities said yesterday. Edward Hopkins, a spokesman for the state Department of Juvenile Services, said police found the 18-year-old in Montgomery County after receiving a tip about where he was staying. Hopkins did not have information late yesterday on whether the stolen van had been recovered. He said the teenager was taken to an adult jail in Montgomery County.

A 42-year-old armed robbery suspect who escaped from the Central Booking and Intake Center on Saturday returned to the jail yesterday afternoon to surrender, accompanied by his attorney, said a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. Troy Aaron Gross of the Gwynn Oak section of Baltimore County was arrested Thursday on armed robbery charges and was taken to Central Booking on Friday, said spokesman Mark Vernarelli. Gross, who was being held without bail, was reported missing Saturday, Vernarelli said.