By Don Lehman
The Post Star
EASTON, Pa. — Spending 18 months in a Florida jail under his brother’s name couldn’t keep an Easton man from escaping the law in Washington County.
Michael W. Waite, 44, was brought back to Washington County by State Police after his release from jail in Florida over the weekend to face charges for a 2005 garage burglary and car theft in Easton, police said.
State Police tracked him to a jail in Punta Gorda, Fla., where he spent the last 18 months under the name of David Waite, State Police said.
He had been arrested there on a burglary charge, but when authorities in Florida had his fingerprints compared to those on file in a nationwide crime computer system, they found they matched those of Michael Waite, said State Police Investigator Jeff Horn.
He faces felony charges of third-degree burglary for a June 30, 2005, burglary in which a motorized scooter was stolen, and a count of fourth-degree grand larceny for allegedly stealing an Isuzu Rodeo sport-utility vehicle from a home in Easton the same day.
Police said he fled to Florida shortly after the June 2005 crimes in Easton.
“He was down there in Florida for quite awhile,” Horn said. “Florida still has him in the system under the name David Waite.”
Waite was arraigned before Washington County Judge Kelly McKeighan and sent to Washington County Jail for lack of bail.
He has a lengthy criminal record, police said, though a 1998 arrest on high-profile kidnapping and robbery charges in connection with a burglary/drug theft resulted in all charges being dropped against him and three friends.
Copyright 2008 The Post Star