1980 Berks Prison Escapee Found At Boy Scout Camp

[giza]

music4fun pointed me to this article in the Allentown Morning Call...

1980 Berks Prison Escapee Found At Boy Scout Camp

By Angela Pomponio
and Michael Duck Of The Morning Call

READING

A man who left a Berks County Prison work-release program 24 years ago is back behind bars after police found him working at a Monroe County Boy Scout camp, police said.

Skip Wilkins, 49, was arrested Friday at Trexler Scout Reservation in Kresgeville after state police at Reading ran his information through a national database and looked for him at the camp several times, Trooper Raymond Albert of the Reading Barracks said Tuesday.

''He obviously would see coming to the camp and hide,'' Albert said. ''He's been looking over his shoulder every time he would see a policeman, I guess.''

For 20 years, Wilkins has been a year-round caretaker at the camp, said Thomas R. Harrington, Scout executive and chief executive officer of the Minsi Trails Council, Boy Scouts of America.

''Needless to say, we're very surprised to find out about Mr. Wilkins' past,'' Harrington said. ''We did conduct a criminal background check about seven years ago with the Pennsylvania state polce, and the report came back clean.''

Police said Wilkins, known to Harrington as ''Doug Wilkins,'' may have been using an alias.

Police have had a warrant for Wilkins since May 1980 when he allegedly stole a car he was assigned to paint while at Berks County Prison on a state parole violation.

The car was found abandoned near Lehigh Valley International Airport.

Details about Wilkins' original charges could not be confirmed Tuesday, though Harrington said police told him the charge was forgery.

''He's been a good employee for 20 years,'' Harrington said. ''In that 20 years, he got married, he's raised three kids, he's been a hardworking employee. But we're cooperating with the authorities, and we're waiting to see how this works out.''

State police at Lehighton assisted with the arrest, according to a press release.

Wilkins is in Berks County Prison without bail.

michael.duck@mcall.com

That really blows my mind. In my Boy Scouting experiences in the 1980s and 1990s I must have been to events at Camp Trexler well over a dozen times. Just about everyone in the council knew who Doug was, as he lived at the camp with his family and took care of it on a year-round basis. Everyone thought he was a cool guy and committed to his job and all that. And all of a sudden, *wham*, he gets thrown (back) in prison for something that happened more than 20 years ago. This is the sort of stuff you expect to happen in movies, not in real life.

Kinda makes me wonder about the skeletons that we all might have in our closets and when one day, the person whom you least suspect might be called on to answer for crimes of their youth.

Comments

[firedhusky.livejournal.com]

In my husky opinion, the dude should be left alone. Seems his past charges were not crazy as murderer or something on those lines.

The idea of going to jail, is not to punish but to correct (correctional institution).

If he was able to keep a job for so many years, get a family and kids. And can probe he "corrected" himself. would be no doubt in my head to let him go with some comunity hours or something.

Paw waves

FDH

[cjthomas.livejournal.com]

The idea of going to jail, is not to punish but to correct (correctional institution).

The actual primary purposes of jail are to serve as a deterrant to people considering committing crimes, and to prevent people from committing more crimes by locking them away. Which purpose applies depends on the case; you're locking a murderer away to protect society from them, but giving Martha Stewart a few months in jail probably doesn't influence the odds of her making more questionable stock trades.

The idea of jails being correctional facilities is a relatively new one (mid 20th century?), and I'm not sure I take it seriously. It seems about the worst possible environment to try to perform such correction in, and the clientele mostly don't want to be corrected.

That having been said, I don't like the idea of this guy being locked away 20 years after the fact and having his life wrecked. I just feel that the arguments about correction are not as applicable as perhaps might be desirable in this case.

[giza.livejournal.com]

> but giving Martha Stewart a few months in jail probably doesn't influence the odds of her making more
> questionable stock trades.

I dunno about that... if I were deprived of my freedom for a few months for doing something illegal, I don't think *I* would do it again.

[firedhusky.livejournal.com]

but Stuart is smart... all she will learn about this deal, is to do it again without beeing cought :P

FHD

[cjthomas.livejournal.com]

I dunno about that... if I were deprived of my freedom for a few months for doing something illegal, I don't think *I* would do it again.

My suspicion is that the majority of people in prison are either dumb enough to not pick up this connection, or arrogant enough to not accept it. Nobody plans to get caught, and you can always blame prison time on bad luck or someone else's actions if you want to badly enough.

The real deterrent effect is on people who would do the crime if they thought the worst they'd get was a slap on the wrist or that there was no way they'd get caught, but are bright enough or insecure enough to learn from an example being made of others.

Naturally, there are still people who come out of the prison system thinking "wow, that was rough; I'll never do that again!". But my own feeling is that these are likely the minority.

Notice all the caveats I've been sprinkling in above, though :). Without actual data, I'm just guessing.

[firedhusky.livejournal.com]

May be I am an idealist :) I just wish someone would be flexible for this guy and a lot other people that can get their life straight and live a productive life and... be happy.

*wags*

FDH

[skiprudder.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the visit hon. =9