Mississippi fugitive arrested in small Utah town after 34 years on the run

Published May 03, 2016

Police in Utah say they've arrested a man who escaped from a Mississippi jail 34 years ago.

Authorities said Friday that 61-year-old Sam Gene Harris also escaped from jails in Oregon before landing in the small central Utah town of Wellington several years ago.

Carbon County Sheriff Jeff Wood says Harris has used at least 10 different aliases and also has a criminal history in Florida and Georgia.

Wood says an FBI bulletin tipped off Utah police to his identity. They arrested Harris as he walked back to his house Thursday.

Authorities say Harris was serving a four-year sentence for shoplifting and possession of burglary tools when he escaped in 1980. He will be extradited to Mississippi.

No attorney was immediately listed for Harris in court records, and his phone number was not publicly available.

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/us/mississippi-fugitive-arrested-in-small-utah-town-after-34-years-on-the-run