Kentucky Convict in Custody After Pa. Hotel Standoff

MORGAN, Pa. – A convicted bank robber who escaped a Kentucky prison in June was arrested Monday after a 5 1/2-hour standoff at a western Pennsylvania hotel ended with authorities using a pepper-spray-like gas.

Anthony Ray Artrip was tracked to the Knights Inn in South Fayette Township based on a tip, according to U.S. Marshal Tom Fitzgerald.

Artrip, 35, of Ashland, Ky., had barricaded himself in when marshals tried to serve him a warrant around 9:30 a.m., authorities said. He was apprehended around 3 p.m. when a SWAT team pumped the gas into a ceiling crawl space where he was hiding. A concussion grenade was also used.

The hotel, which is about 10 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, was evacuated during the standoff with local police, federal marshals and SWAT teams. It was not clear how many people were inside, but no one was injured, authorities said.

Artrip had been on the run since escaping through a prison roof in Grant County, Ky., on June 24. He was there awaiting sentencing on three counts of bank robbery following a conviction in Ohio, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Last month, the service named him one of its 15 most wanted fugitives. The agency said he was a suspect in bank at least five bank robberies while on the run, including robberies in Princeton, W.Va., on June 30; in Raleigh, N.C., on July 2; and in Monroe, Mich., on Aug. 4.

He had last been seen by police in Asheville, N.C., on Sept. 11, but escaped after a vehicle chase.

Authorities have been tracking him through several states, including Georgia, since Friday, Fitzgerald said.

Artrip was taken to a local hospital and then was expected to be taken to the Allegheny County jail before being returned to Kentucky.