The Associated Press
SWAN LAKE, Mont. — Authorities captured two escaped inmates Wednesday in northwestern Montana, including a man once accused of plotting to kidnap David Letterman’s son and nanny in a ransom scheme.
After six days on the run, Kelly A. Frank was arrested at a house along a highway deputies were patrolling as part of the search, Lake County Sheriff Lucky Larson said.
Undersheriff Jay Doyle said he was checking homes Wednesday morning when he heard glass breaking. Officers surrounded a residence, and Frank emerged peacefully after about 20 minutes of instructions to come out with his hands in sight, Doyle told KERR-AM.
The arrest took place near a house owned by a relative of the other fugitive, William J. Willcutt, Doyle said.
Several hours later, a Missoula County SWAT team arrested Willcutt, Larson said.
Frank was to be arraigned in Lake County on escape charges and other charges related to burglaries and thefts while the two were missing, Mahoney said.
“He will have a nice laundry list of additional felony charges,” the warden said.
Information was not immediately available about Willcutt.
U.S. Forest Service workers had spotted Frank and Willcutt on Tuesday bathing in a creek in the Flathead National Forest near Swan Lake in northwestern Montana, authorities said. Both men fled when they realized they had been seen.
“One was out (of the water) long enough to get partially dressed, but the other didn’t have a chance to get much on,” Mahoney said.
Officials found Department of Corrections clothing at a nearby camp site, along with an address book and other items that identified the men as Frank, 45, and Willcutt, 22, who had been serving time for burglary.
The two had escaped Friday while working at a Montana State Prison ranch near Deer Lodge, about 120 miles south of Swan Lake.
Employees at a store in Clancy, near Helena, reported that a man they believed was Willcutt stole three knives, a box of .38-caliber ammunition and food from the business during the weekend.
Willcutt was denied parole earlier this year. Frank would have been eligible for parole in three months.
Both now face additional prison sentences of up to 10 years for escape, prison spokeswoman Dana Eldredge said.
Frank was arrested in 2005 on allegations he crafted a plan to kidnap Harry Letterman and the boy’s nanny for a $5 million ransom. A charge of solicitation to kidnap was dropped in return for pleas of guilty to other charges, including felony theft and misdemeanor obstruction.
Frank, who worked as a painter at Letterman’s ranch, received a 10-year sentence for theft for overcharging Letterman. At the time of his arrest, he was on supervised release for a 1998 conviction for stalking and intimidating a woman.
Letterman’s production company has not commented on the escape. Authorities have not said if they have increased security around the talk show host’s 2,700-acre Montana ranch.