Elusive Escapee Finally Caught

Kevin Jerome Pullum, who escaped from Twin Towers jail 16 days ago, was arrested without incident Sunday afternoon near skid row by Los Angeles police officers on the lookout after reports that he had been seen in the area, Sheriff Lee Baca announced Sunday evening.

The officers, along with sheriff’s deputies, had been searching for Pullum in downtown Los Angeles for the last couple of days.

In fact, authorities believed they had captured Pullum earlier Sunday, when deputies and LAPD officers investigated a report of a stolen car driven by someone resembling Pullum. The man they stopped turned out not to be the fugitive, who had walked out of the downtown Twin Towers jail on July 6, hours after he was convicted of attempted murder in a Van Nuys courtroom.

But while returning to the LAPD’s Central Division, four officers said they spotted another man resembling Pullum sitting on a milk crate on 5th Street, near Crocker Street.

That man, who was carrying a false identification, turned out to be the escapee who had led sheriff’s deputies on a long, frustrating search for more than two weeks.

In his brazen escape, Pullum, 31, apparently used a fake employee identification badge bearing a picture of actor Eddie Murphy from the film “Dr. Dolittle 2.” As he walked out of an employee entrance to the jail, he was wearing street clothes, which he had apparently concealed beneath his jail uniform.

On Sunday afternoon, LAPD officers who surrounded Pullum said they were confident they had the right man despite his attempts to alter his appearance and identity.

Pullum, they said, had a telltale gap between his teeth, scar near his left eye and pierced ear. They said he gave them false information, providing the identification card of a man much older and with a different physical description. LAPD Officer Lee Perry said he told them that his name was “Henry Crocker.” That did not match the name on the ID card.

Pullum had also shaved his head, his goatee and his eyebrows. He was wearing a black nylon cap, officers said.

He was nervous, shifting his weight from one side to another and refusing to make eye contact, the officers said. The four officers surrounded him.

When another pair of LAPD officers arrived with Pullum’s picture, the officers said they were certain they had the convicted felon, who had faced a life prison sentence even before his escape.

“Every time we put a picture near him, he would duck his head,” Perry said. “He wouldn’t make eye contact. . . . He became extremely nervous.”

He began yelling for help, the officers said.

“You guys are going to kill me,” Perry said Pullum shouted.

But Perry, along with officers Andrew Hwang, Leroy O’Brien and Kevin Lew, said they believed he only wanted to attract attention.

Sheriff’s deputies from the department’s major crimes bureau were in the area at the time, and arrived quickly to positively identify Pullum. He was taken in a caravan of deputies and LAPD officers to Twin Towers jail. Two sets of fingerprints were taken to ensure authorities had arrested Pullum.

The much-relieved Baca, who had been sitting in an Alhambra theater when he received the news, praised the LAPD officers for their work.

“I’m grateful to the members of the LAPD for their alertness, their attention to duty when in fact they were returning to their station off duty,” Baca said. “The story . . . needed to come to a conclusion. Mr. Pullum is now in custody.”

Pullum did not cooperate with authorities and refused to be interviewed Sunday evening, authorities said. Baca said detectives will attempt to interview him today.

It was a frustrating and embarrassing 16 days for the Sheriff’s Department, which runs the largest jail system in the country.

Pullum is a third striker, facing up to life in prison. He was convicted of attempted murder for shooting a man six times in May 1999 in drug deal gone sour. He will now also be charged for the escape.

During that escape, he apparently wore his street clothes under his jail uniform, which he dumped while walking through an unguarded tunnel from the reception center to Twin Towers.

Sheriff’s detectives who investigated the case said it was particularly frustrating because Pullum has many friends, relatives and other associates. Deputies staked out 48 different locations throughout the search.

“This was the most difficult,” said Det. Robert Barrios, who along with his partner, Det. Susan Higgins, handled the investigation. “He had a lot of places to go.”

Perry, a three-year LAPD officer, said he was investigating a robbery a few days ago and was told by numerous people on skid row that he had “just missed” Pullum. He said he went to the Sheriff’s Department for a photo of Pullum and other descriptions so he could look out for the fugitive while on duty.

Lew, who was driving the LAPD patrol car with the three other officers, said he only chose to take Crocker Street because he remembered being told by his training officer “to take a different route back to the station. The bad guys know which route you take.”

All four officers said they were glad that the arrest was mostly uneventful.

When Pullum was being taken to Twin Towers Sunday evening, LAPD Officer Merav Tyler said he was shouting: “It’s not me. Let me go. You got the wrong man.”

Then, he slumped over sideways and appeared to fall asleep.

When they arrived at Twin Towers, she said, he woke up and again began telling the officers they had the wrong man.

Chronology of the Escape

The flight of Kevin Jerome Pullum:

JULY 6

Hours after being convicted of attempted murder in Van Nuys Superior Court, Pullum is returned by bus to the downtown Inmate Reception Center.

7:40 p.m: Pullum’s jail-issued wristband is scanned. But instead of walking toward the Men’s Central Jail through the usual tunnel, he takes another tunnel toward Twin Towers jail. Pullum apparently discards his jailhouse uniform in the unguarded tunnel. Underneath is the civilian clothing he wore in court. Pullum also puts on a fake identification card, apparently containing a photo of actor Eddie Murphy from an ad for “Dr. Dolittle 2.”

7:51 p.m.: He walks out an employee exit, captured on sheriff’s videotape in his beige pants and a flowered shirt.

About 8 p.m.: Pullum’s girlfriend says he calls her. He then takes the subway a couple of stops from Union Station to meet her. They take a leisurely walk before going to her downtown apartment, where she cooks chicken, vegetables and Rice-a-Roni for dinner.

JULY 7

Pullum’s girlfriend says the couple shops along Broadway and she buys him tennis shoes to replace his jail-issued black slip-on sneakers. They spend the rest of the day watching television, playing cards, cooking and listening to the radio. Meanwhile, sheriff’s deputies are in the midst of conducting seven wristband counts and six jailhouse searches before finally on July 9 publicly announcing his escape.

JULY 8

Pullum and the woman spend a quiet day at the studio apartment. He leaves in the evening. About midnight, deputies knock on the door, searching for him.

JULY 10

Sheriff’s deputies search a Gardena motel but find nothing.

JULY 11

A bloodhound detects Pullum’s scent at his sister’s home in Hawthorne. Deputies from the department’s Major Crimes Bureau search various locations. Deputies change their description of Pullum, saying he is 75 pounds heavier and 2 inches taller than previously stated.

JULY 13

Sheriff’s deputies, after receiving tips from a jailhouse informant, announce that they have found the videotape of Pullum leaving the jail and have determined how he escaped.

JULY 16

Pullum knocks on the sister’s door in Hawthorne before dawn and asks for money. Led by bloodhounds, deputies comb a Hawthorne neighborhood for nine hours. A surrender is negotiated but Pullum never shows up.

TUESDAY

Letters from Sheriff Lee Baca are delivered to a dozen of Pullum’s friends and relatives, seeking their help and asking Pullum to surrender. “I am very concerned about you and I am certain your family is as well,” reads the letter to Pullum.

SUNDAY

Pullum is arrested on 5th Street in downtown Los Angeles about 3:40 p.m.