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Escape may cost inmate few decades

Police find the escapee in Clearwater after he abandoned a work detail near Tarpon Springs.

By DEMORRIS A. LEE
Published July 31, 2006

CLEARWATER - James W. Ford wanted to get away. But he didn't go far.

Earlier this month, the 42-year-old prison inmate ran away from a work detail near Tarpon Springs. Police found him Saturday afternoon in nearby Clearwater.

Ford had six months left to serve on a 15-year prison sentence for grand theft and burglary. Now he could face as much as an additional 30 years for twice trying to escape - once from the work detail and again when police found him Saturday.

Police approached Ford on Saturday afternoon near the downtown Clearwater library. They suspected him of having outstanding warrants, Clearwater police spokesman Wayne Shelor said.

They did not know at first that he was an escaped prisoner.

"No one knew who he was, and he gave numerous aliases and numerous dates of births," Shelor said. "... They were preparing to book him in jail under John Doe for a number of transgressions he had committed."

But then Clearwater Officer Richard Long arrived at the scene and had a picture of escapee James Ford.

It matched.

"When Ford realized he had been made, he tried to escape," Shelor said.

On July 12, Ford was the lone worker on a trash detail along U.S. 19 just northeast of Tarpon Springs. The Sumter Forestry Camp in Bushnell had designated Ford a "minimal risk."

Ford slipped away into the woods, despite being monitored by two state Transportation Department employees. Tracking dogs later led authorities to Ford's prison-issued work clothes, which he left in the woods.

Ford has been in prison since he was convicted in Pinellas County of burglary and grand theft in 1991. He was due to be released in January. Now he faces two counts of escape, a second-degree felony punishable by no more than 15 years in prison for each count.

Ford was being held Sunday in the Pinellas County Jail awaiting pickup by the state Department of Corrections.

Demorris A. Lee can be reached at dalee@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4174.

[Last modified July 31, 2006, 02:01:51]