Man Hunted After Chase From Checkpoint Is Seized

After searching five hours through canyon underbrush for one of three people who fled the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint here, federal agents finally caught the suspect Monday evening as he walked on a city street minutes after the manhunt had been called off.

Federal officials said three people were arrested, and they described two of them as convicted drug traffickers who were on parole. They also said Border Patrol agents found a submachine gun in the car the suspects used to flee the checkpoint south of here.

Steve Kean, a Border Patrol spokesman, said that investigators were trying to determine who owned the weapon and that no drugs were found in the vehicle.

The chase began shortly after noon at the San Onofre checkpoint, when the occupants of a 1982 Toyota ignored orders to drive to a staging area for secondary inspections and accelerated up the freeway instead.

“They just took off from there,” Kean said, “with Border Patrol agents in pursuit.”

A few miles from the checkpoint, the vehicle exited on the Christianitos off-ramp and went down surface streets until it skidded to a halt in the parking lot of the San Clemente Inn at 2600 Avenida del Presidente.

The three people inside--two men and a woman--then fled on foot. One man and woman were quickly caught. The remaining suspect disappeared into a canyon abutting San Clemente State Park.

For almost five hours, searchers, assisted by a helicopter and police dogs, walked through the canyon’s heavy brush in an unsuccessful attempt to locate the suspect. Kean said the search teams had been warned that the man they were looking for might be armed with a handgun.

“He apparently (hid) rather well in the underbrush there,” he said. “The dog couldn’t find his scent, and the helicopter couldn’t spot him.”

At about 5 p.m., less than half an hour after calling off the search, Border Patrol agents circulating through the area spotted the suspect walking along San Luis Rey near the San Clemente Golf Course. He was unarmed.

“After we pulled out of the scene, he just walked out of the canyon,” Kean said.

Arrested were Anthony Lane Morocco, 22, of Ukiah and Thomas Richard Burnette, 25, of Vista. Both were booked on suspicion of having a firearm in a car and felony possession of a firearm. Police said Suzanne Ray Burdett, 31, was arrested and released.

The men are being held in the San Clemente City Jail.