Hillsborough: Slippery suspect is now linked to escape

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Slippery suspect is now linked to escape

By ANGELA MOORE

TAMPA -- He's a bank robbery suspect who has lived in waterfront condos in Pensacola and California with his stripper girlfriend and appeared on the Jerry Springer Show with his transvestite lover.

But since January, Jeffrey Scott Durham has been staring at the bare walls of a Morgan Street Jail cell, awaiting trial on so many charges that a conviction could mean he'd spend the rest of his life in prison.

Friday morning, authorities say he tried to make a run for it.

Authorities reported the incident this way:

Durham, 34, was in the recreation yard with another inmate about 9 a.m. when he scaled an 8-foot fence lined with razor ribbon, cutting himself badly.

Then he jumped Deputy Ronald Sherwood, who was standing guard with a shotgun just outside the fence. They struggled, and when Sherwood realized he was losing the fight, he threw his shotgun into a fenced area to keep Durham from arming himself.

Durham ran through a gate and then scaled another fence with more rolls of razor ribbon. He landed on a roof above the recreation yard, where he took off his pants to protect himself from still more rolls of razor ribbon. Bleeding from many serious cuts, he jumped down onto a sidewalk, where Cpl. Shane Burton and Lt. Cliff Brown tackled him and took him to the jail's infirmary for treatment.

Neither Brown nor Burton would say much about the incident Friday afternoon, but their appearance spoke volumes. Each was speckled with blood, and Burton's right arm, which was injured in the scuffle, was bandaged.

Durham, who is being held on six bank robbery charges, was taken to the Morgan Street Jail infirmary. His court-appointed attorney, Bjorn Brunvand, said he was surprised by the escape attempt, but added: "If convicted, he's looking at spending a substantial amount of time in prison. Perhaps the rest of his life."

Twice featured on America's Most Wanted television show, he'd been outwitting police for two years until checking into a Santa Barbara, Calif., hospital under a known alias on Dec. 18, 1998. He had come for treatment of burns suffered when he torched his camper to get rid of evidence, FBI officials said.

He was held in California until his extradition to Hillsborough County in January to face the bank robbery charges.

Police said Durham was an adept bank robber who could pull off a heist in 55 seconds. He is accused of robbing banks in St. Petersburg, Pinellas Park, Melbourne, Cocoa Beach, Gainesville and Pensacola. Pinellas authorities said Durham committed dozens of residential burglaries, sometimes scaling the outside of beachfront condos like Spider-Man.

While on the run, he was stopped two times for speeding by Pensacola police, but he managed to fool them by showing false identification, authorities say.

He blithely appeared on the Jerry Springer Show in May 1997 with a transvestite named Amber, weeks after police said he robbed two banks in Melbourne.

The daring attempt Friday was just as bold.

"I guess he really wanted to be free," Lt. Brown said.

Instead, the attempt means Durham will face even more charges, including escape and battery on a law enforcement officer.

-- Information from Times files was used in this report.

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