Robber handed 1 year after 30

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — A southwest Missouri man has been sentenced by a Florida court to 1 year and 1 day for walking away from a prison term 30 years ago.

In March 1979 Oscar Eugene Richardson, 61, was two years into a 10-year sentence for armed robberies in Tampa, Fla., when he walked away from the Kissimmee Work Release Center. He was arrested Dec. 19 at his home in Ridgedale, Mo., where he’d lived since his escape.

Richardson, who had assumed the name Eugene Ward, is in the Osceola County, Fla., jail waiting to be transferred to that state’s Department of Corrections. He was sentenced Monday on a felony escape charge and given credit for having served 159 days in jail, court records show.

The new sentence is in addition to the minimum 3 years and 8 months that he still had to serve for robbery, based on sentencing guidelines at the time, said Jo Ellyn Rackleff, spokesman for the Florida Corrections Department.

A f inal release date hasn’t been set for Richardson, she said.

Richardson was captured in Missouri after someone reported his whereabouts to a toll-free hotline, which was set up as part of a Florida program called the “12 Days of Fugitives.” The program, which offers cash rewardsfor information leading to the capture of fugitives, was put on by the Florida departments of Corrections and Law Enforcement.

“We’re glad that he was captured, and we’re glad that he’s going to be made to fulfill the sentence that the court gave him,” said Mark Cox, spokesman for the Hillsborough County, Fla., state attorney’s office, which originally prosecuted Richardson.

Cox said his office wasessentially finished with the case after winning the 1977 conviction. However, there is a certain satisfaction in knowing that finally Richardson will “serve his sentence just like any other robber,” he added.

Florida officials initially were upset when Richardson was granted bail by Taney County Associate Circuit Judge Tony Williams. Williams released Richardson on $25,000 bond.

“I am shocked and extremely disappointed by the irresponsible decision of Judge Tony Williams,” Gerald M. Bailey, commissioner of the Florida Law Enforcement Department, said at the time.

Before Richardson was returned to Florida’s custody in February, he’d pleaded guilty to failing to file income tax, said Taney County Prosecuting Attorney Jeff Merrell.

Merrell said Richardson was given a two-year sentence, which would be served at the same time as his Florida term. Merrell said he decided not to pursue the maximum five-year sentence because Richardson was willing to take responsibility for his crimeand save taxpayers the cost of a trial.

As Ward, Richardson was well known and liked in his Taney County community where he worked as a handyman. Richardson lived about a mile from the Arkansas state line, was married and had a daughter, now in her mid-20s.

Merrell said he believes Richardson’s case to be a rarity. It’s especially rare for someone to get found after so many years, Merrell said.

“It makes sense that people didn’t know what he’d done,” Merrell said.