O.C. Fugitive’s Spree Traced by Authorities : Jail Escapee Suspected in Nationwide String of Armed Robberies

Michael Douglas Taylor, the alleged master jewel thief and Orange County fugitive captured here last weekend, may have had a sideline in his criminal career: He also robbed shoe stores, authorities say.

Police here and in other cities said that Taylor is suspected of robbing shoe stores in Des Moines and Denver, as well as jewelry stores in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., West Des Moines, and River Grove, Ill., on his cross-country flight since he broke out of the Orange County Jail 6 months ago.

Police in Albany, Calif., also say Taylor is their man. The crime he allegedly committed there, however, is far more violent than the robberies linked to him.

Albany Police Detective Will Leggett said that last Jan. 9, Taylor and another man posing as used-car buyers kidnaped a woman, raped her and then tried to choke her with a rope. The woman escaped from the car near San Jose and identified Taylor as her assailant after he was the subject of an “America’s Most Wanted” television show.

Police later identified the other man as Richard Wayne Gettick, 28, who is being held in Escambia County Jail in Florida. He was arrested there after he tried to fence diamonds--to an undercover police officer--that he and Taylor allegedly took in the River Grove robbery on Feb. 2, Leggett said.

Alameda County prosecutors were preparing a complaint against Taylor on Monday and plan to join the line of authorities from other cities hoping to extradite him later this week, Leggett said.

Taylor, 36, appeared Monday morning under heavy security in U.S. District Court. Dressed in dark-green jail clothes, Taylor waved a copy of the complaint against him, which at this point includes only a charge of interstate travel to avoid prosecution, and said: “I object to the statements in this.”

U.S. District Judge Andrew Bogue told Taylor he would have an opportunity in the future to respond to the charge and asked that he be given a lawyer. Taylor remains in Pennington County Jail pending extradition proceedings, which could occur later this week.

As Taylor was leaving the courtroom Monday, he could be heard asking federal marshals about his girlfriend, Lisa Marie Prindes, who was also arrested last weekend.

Prindes, 25, of Chicago, and Raymond E. Williams, 24, of Glens Falls, N.Y., who was traveling with the couple, were arraigned in a state court Monday on charges of receiving stolen property. They are being held in the county jail on $5,000 bond.

Williams initially told police his name was David Meek and that Taylor had picked him up hitchhiking. He later admitted that he had been traveling with Taylor for more than a month and had helped him commit crimes recently, according to a police report made available Monday.

Those crimes, police here say, include a May 2 robbery of Goldfire Jewelers in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., a May 17 holdup at a Payless shoe store in Des Moines, and a May 19, early-morning robbery of Ginsberg’s Diamond Brokers in West Des Moines.

Taylor, Williams and Prindes, who were traveling with Prindes’ two children, a golden retriever and a kitten in a brown GMC van, probably arrived in Rapid City the night of the West Des Moines robbery and stayed in a motel, Rapid City Police Lt. Doug Noyes said.

Taylor and Williams were arrested the following day, Saturday, in a pawn shop after trying to peddle several diamonds in jewelry and pawn shops throughout the city.

Rapid City Police Officer Ron Bedard wrote in his report of the arrest that he “got the impression from his eyes that he looked like a caged animal, and any lapse in our attention to him would result in problems.”

But Taylor went peacefully, although he was reluctant to show Bedard a tattoo on his arm which would reveal that he was the man sought on numerous state and federal warrants, according to the report.

Prindes, the two children and the pets were found nearby inside the van, which Taylor had bought in Nevada, Noyes said.

The children, a 4-year-old boy and 2-year-old girl, are in state custody until relatives come to claim them, Noyes said.

A police report said that “the family pets . . . have been placed at the animal shelter.”

Noyes said that a search of the couple’s van turned up a shotgun, two pistols and enough diamonds and gold jewelry to fill an ice chest.

“We can’t even estimate the value,” Noyes said at a news conference packed with local media. “You could start a nice jewelry store with what’s there.”

Taylor may also be a suspect in a string of eight robberies that occurred in Denver between Dec. 2, 1988, and Jan. 3, Noyes said. Denver police said the robberies included five shoe stores and three gas stations, but more details were not immediately available.

Court records filed Monday gave the clearest picture so far of Taylor’s activity since he led four other inmates in the November jail escape. The other four already are in custody.

According to an affidavit filed Dec. 2 by FBI Agent William E. Wright Jr., an unnamed brother of Taylor told the Orange County Sheriff’s Department that Taylor possibly was headed to Chicago to kill another brother, also unnamed. A spokesman for the FBI said Taylor apparently never carried out the alleged threat.

The affidavit also states that Taylor and two other escapees on the run with him--Richard L. Fluharty and Paul T. Rateau-- went to the Ontario home of Freda Rateau, the escapee’s mother, on Nov. 29, nine days after the escape. It was unclear whether Paul Rateau is an alias for Steve Wilson, whom Sheriff’s Department officials previously have identified as one of the escapees.

The three escapees received food and clothing there, and Taylor told Freda Rateau that they were headed for a ranch in Mexico, according to the document. He also reportedly threatened to kill the Rateau family if she called police.

There is no evidence that Taylor or the others went to Mexico “but there are periods of time when I have no idea where they were,” said Bucky Cox, spokesman for the FBI’s Santa Ana office.

Freda Rateau could not be reached for comment Monday.

Taylor linked up with Prindes shortly after he allegedly robbed a jewelry store in River Grove, near Chicago, Cox said. “We had information that she probably left town and joined up with him.”

FBI agents in Chicago interviewed Prindes before she linked up with Taylor, but Cox said he could not remember what information was gleaned from the interview.

Illinois driver’s license records show that Prindes was living at her parents’ address. The parents could not be reached for comment.

Taylor was the subject of a second America’s Most Wanted” show May 7, after which several viewers in western South Dakota called the Fox Television Network and said they had seen the fugitive, a spokesman for the network said.

Noyes, however, dismissed those reports, and said he has seen no evidence that Taylor was in South Dakota before Friday.

“That’s just the way folks are around here,” Noyes said. “They see that TV program, and suddenly they think they’ve seen this fellow.”

The 14-year veteran of the Rapid City police force said his department would just as soon see Orange County or some other, larger, jurisdiction take Taylor off their hands.

“He broke out of that 5-story jail in California, I’m sure he could break out of our facility,” Noyes said.

Schwartz reported from Rapid City and Dodson from Orange County.

TAYLOR’S ALLEGED CRIME SPREE

Police believe Michael Taylor was involved in a string of crimes across the country since his escape from Orange County Jail. Authorities offer the following scenario:

1. Nov.20, 1988: Taylor and four others break out of Orange County Jail

2. Dec. 2 to Jan. 3: Taylor is a suspect in the robbery of five shoe stores and three gas stations in Denver.

3. Jan. 9: He is suspect in kidnaping, rape and attempted murder in Albany, Calif.

4. Feb. 2: He is a suspect in jewelry store robbery in River Grove, Ill. Shortly after that robbery, he links up with Lisa Marie Prindes, 25, of Chicago, his common-law wife.

5. Feb. 7-8: He is in New York City.

6. Sometime in March to early April: He is in Portland, Me.

7. May 2: He is a suspect in jewelry store robbery in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

8. May 17: He is a suspect in shoe store robbery in Des Moines, Iowa.

9. May 19: He is a suspect in jewelry store robbery ion Des Moines.

10. May 20: He is arrested in Rapid City, S.D., peddling diamonds.

Sources: Rapid City Police Department; Albany, Calif., Police Department; Denver Police Department and FBI.