‘Money and Life Style’ Make Orange County a Favorite Place to Hide

Among local and federal law-enforcement officials, Orange County is known as something of a hot spot for fugitives from justice.

“We find a a lot of narcotics fugitives in Orange County,” said Deputy U.S. Marshal Arthur Banks, who lives in Laguna Hills. “I think it’s the money and the life style of Orange County that attracts them.”

Eight U.S. marshals, working in pairs, are constantly searching for fugitives in an area stretching south from San Luis Obispo County to Orange County and east to Riverside County. Each year the marshals arrest about 400 federal fugitives. Various other local law-enforcement agencies pick up another 150 to 200 fugitives a year, Banks said.

In 1986, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department participated in 619 fugitive investigations--helping other law-enforcement agencies track down missing criminals, according to Lt. Richard Olson. Olson said there are no figures available on how many of those investigations ended in arrests.

Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Customs Service agents are tracking the people on their own lists of fugitives. In the Los Angeles region, the IRS has 53 outstanding criminal warrants, including one dating back to 1962, an IRS spokesman said.

In the region spanning Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and southern Los Angeles counties, IRS agents are searching for 14 fugitives, an IRS spokeswoman said.

Between Las Vegas and San Diego, Customs agents say they are currently on the lookout for about 150 fugitives.