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[ PREVIOUS STORIES ]

07-28-03: Last fugitive caught
By MARGIE WUEBKER
The Daily Standard

    A former Celina man who escaped from a Taylor County, Fla., jail certainly wasn't expecting company when he stepped into the shower Saturday afternoon.
    Brian L. Anderson, 22, who once resided at Jewett Drive, reportedly offered no resistance when Celina police arrived on the scene to make the arrest, according to Chief Dave Slusser.
    "We had received information and tips from the public ever since Thursday," he added.
    After narrowing possible locations, the police descended on a mobile home located at 537 Touvelle St., Lot 13, shortly before 2:30 p.m.       nderson was taken to the Mercer County Jail as were an adult male and an adult female, who reportedly rented the mobile home. A 15-year-old female, also at the location, was questioned and later released.
    Two toddlers, also in the mobile home at the time of the arrests, were turned over to Mercer County Children's Services.
    Slusser did not identify the adults who face felony charges of harboring a fugitive.  
    The Mercer County Prosecu-tor's Office continues to review the case of the juvenile.
    Authorities had been warned Anderson and a 17-year-old accomplice might be headed this way following their escape. An off-duty Celina detective recognized Anderson behind the wheel of a 1997 Geo Prizm bearing Florida license plates shortly before 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the 600 block of Grove Street. Cruisers quickly descended on the area.
    Anderson stopped the car and both occupants fled on foot. Nick, Celina's K-9 unit, apprehended Harvey Scott Jordan within half a block from the car.
    The former Celina man disappeared into a residential area and was the target of a three-hour manhunt.
    Brian Anderson's brother, Daniel T. Anderson, 19, of 106 Jewett Drive, Celina, appeared in Celina Municipal Court on Friday on a charge of obstruction of justice, a fifth-degree felony. The charge stems from the alleged withholding or providing of false information regarding his brother's whereabouts. Christian R. Temple, 18, also of Celina, faces a second-degree misdemeanor charge of obstructing official business. He, too, made a Friday appearance in court.
    Both escapees remain in custody, with Jordan being lodged at the West Central Ohio Juvenile Detention Center in Troy. The pair escaped early Wednesday morning from the Florida jail, where both had been held since May.
    They reportedly climbed onto a guardrail in their cell, pushed aside ceiling tile and entered the air-conditioning ductwork. They broke through a fire door gaining access to a mechanical room. Once outside, the escapees shimmied up a gutter to the roof and somehow bypassed two perimeter fences liberally topped with razor wire.
    A trained police dog followed their trail for approximately 80 yards before losing the scent in a heavy downpour. The pair apparently stole the white Prizm from a nearby yard and headed north.
    Anderson, who allegedly violated parole here in Mercer County on burglary and robbery cases dating back to 1999, was being held in Florida on eight counts of burglary, two counts of grand theft, eight counts of criminal mischief and one count of providing false information to authorities. As a convicted felon, he also is charged with possessing a firearm.
    His accomplice, who has been adjudicated as an adult, was being held on numerous charges including multiple grand thefts, fleeing and eluding, resisting arrest, illegal possession of a handcuff key and residential burglary. Grand theft charges also are pending in another Florida county.
    Taylor County officials are expected to arrive in Celina next week and return the pair to Florida, where they face new charges of escape, grand theft and criminal mischief.

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