Ex-Officer Who Fled U.S. Prison in Texas Facing New Charges

A former Los Angeles police officer who escaped from a federal prison camp in Texas last month while serving a cocaine-related conviction appeared before a magistrate Monday in Los Angeles but delayed entering a plea.

Modesto Benigno Perales, 40, was captured Friday night by U.S. marshals at a Palm Springs house. Perales had escaped from the Big Springs, Tex., prison camp with the aid of a woman who drove him away from the unfenced facility, said Inspector William Woolsey. He would not describe the woman’s relation to Perales.

The owner of Perales’ Palm Springs hide-out was arrested for harboring a federal fugitive, but was later released for lack of evidence, Woolsey said.

Perales was a member of the Los Angeles Police Department from 1975 until January, 1988, when he was fired for using police computer systems to provide confidential information to a friend, Woolsey said.

Perales was convicted in June, 1988, of conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine and was sentenced to four years and three months in prison. He had served one year of his term when he escaped.

He was initially assigned to the low-security camp because he was considered a low escape risk.

If Perales is convicted of escaping the federal prison, he could be sentenced to up to five additional years, Woolsey said, adding that Perales would assuredly spend his remaining sentence in a high-security prison.

In his appearance before the federal magistrate Monday, Perales was formally notified of the escape charges but withheld entering a plea pending a future hearing.