LOCAL : ‘Escape Artist’ on His Way Back

Michael Mohon, described as an “escape artist” by authorities, is being returned today to Orange County to face charges of attempted murder in an attack on a reserve Fountain Valley police officer, Sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Dick Olson said.

Mohon, who escaped from the Orange County Jail in 1985, was arrested in April in Eight Mile, Ala., on information provided by a woman who saw a segment of the NBC television program “Unsolved Mysteries.”

A U.S. magistrate ordered his extradition to California in April.

Mohon was wanted for the 1983 attempted murder of Devin Arnold, a reserve Fountain Valley police officer, after an alleged burglary attempt in Huntington Beach. With the help of a gun allegedly planted by his wife, Mohon escaped from an Orange County sheriff’s deputy in January, 1985, as he was taken to physical therapy at UCI Medical Center. Two weeks later, he also escaped Phoenix authorities who had arrested him for robbery and attempted kidnaping and were unaware that he was a fugitive from California.

“He’s a real escape artist, and he uses a lot of disguises,” Olson said.