4-Hour Search Ends in Arrest of ‘Wily’ Suspect

Steven Miko is a prison-schooled, Houdiniesque con man, police say, who eluded authorities twice in a month, once by slicing a hole in a mattress and hiding in it, then walking away disguised as a press-pass-carrying journalist.

On Friday, his chameleon ways came to an end after Miko was captured after a chase that ended in North Hills. It took authorities four hours, two police helicopters, eight police dogs, 100 officers and a full neighborhood sweep to nab him.

Miko, 36, was wanted on a number of charges: allegedly pointing a .44 magnum at a sheriff’s deputy in March, beating his girlfriend, setting an apartment on fire earlier this month, stealing trucks and other recent offenses.

Described as a hardened criminal, his arms and chest mapped with tattoos, Miko drifted among Reseda, Palmdale and Downey and was becoming notorious for his escape tactics in squad rooms across the Los Angeles area, police said.

“Miko’s a real bad boy,” said Sgt. John Hardgraves, of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Palmdale station. “There’s not one officer up here who doesn’t know his name.”

The chase on Friday began around 8 a.m. when sheriff’s deputies acting on a tip went to an Arleta home to serve Miko with an arrest warrant. While deputies waited for a back-up unit, Miko ran out, jumped into a stolen pickup truck and took off, Hardgraves said.

Miko led officers on a three-mile chase, which ended in the 9500 block of Haskell Avenue in North Hills, where he ditched the truck and dashed into a backyard.

Then the manhunt really began. Officers sealed off a 10-block perimeter and searched house to house, in trees, under cars and in motorists’ trunks.

Monroe High School, still jittery after Thursday’s bogus shooting threat, was put on full lock-down, with students ordered to stay in their classrooms and away from windows.

Miko is as crafty as they come, police said, and officers Friday were taking no chances of letting him slip through their fingers again. On March 17, he was allegedly involved in a Palmdale robbery, Hardgraves said, and when a deputy showed up, Miko leveled a .44-magnum revolver at the officer and sped away in a stolen pickup. Deputies chased him but he got away.

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On April 1, he resurfaced in Reseda. Miko had allegedly assaulted his girlfriend in Downey and was driving her to a Northridge hospital in a stolen Ford Explorer, when he was spotted by a police officer.

When the officer tried to pull him over, Miko barreled through a metal railroad barricade and drove along the tracks. He then dumped the truck and hid in a Parthenia Street apartment, police said. Minutes later, officers said he set the apartment on fire as a diversion and jumped out a third-story window. Several officers who were searching for him suffered smoke inhalation.

Police traced Miko to a nearby house but couldn’t find him. They later learned Miko had cut a hole in a mattress and crawled inside, said Sgt. Juan Gonzalez of the LAPD’s Foothill Division.

Police said although they were still searching the area, Miko slipped past them because he had chopped off his shoulder-length hair and shaved his mustache while inside the house. He had also disguised himself as a journalist with a camera around his neck and carrying what appeared to be a press pass, Gonzalez said.

“This guy has shown he’ll do anything to get away,” said Sheriff’s Sgt. Brian Jones.

But on Friday, at 12:30 p.m., Miko was cornered. Despite spreading manure on himself to try to hide his scent trail, a police dog and four officers found him hiding in a horse trailer behind a house in the 15700 block of Plummer Street.

Still Miko wasn’t ready to give up.

While deputies drove him to the Palmdale sheriff’s station, Miko broke out of his plastic leg shackles and tried to kick out the squad car windows. Deputies pulled over, doused him with pepper spray and restrained him again, said Sheriff’s Lt. Ed Dvorak.

“He told us that this was his day to die,” Dvorak said.

Miko was booked at the sheriff’s station in Palmdale on charges including assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, attempted robbery and felony evading. His bail was set at $100,000.

He will also face charges in Los Angeles for kidnapping, arson, receiving stolen property and grand theft auto, Dvorak said.

“He was one of the most wily suspects we’ve had in a long time,” Dvorak said. “I think a lot of us are breathing a sigh of relief that this Miko guy is finally behind bars.”