Oregon Fugitives Find Safety In Calif. -- Extradition Unlikely After Capture

MOUNT SHASTA, Calif. - Juan Torres crouched in the back seat of the speeding car, frantically trying to hide a pistol, a syringe and less than an ounce of marijuana as a California state trooper pulled in behind.

A computer check with the National Crime Information Center found that Torres was wanted for felony drug trafficking in Oregon. Yet authorities there refused to extradite him because it would cost too much money.

He was set free with a misdemeanor citation, to the dismay of the trooper, California Highway Patrol Officer Kim Baldi.

But what's worse, Baldi said, is that Oregon authorities would have arranged to take custody of Torres in 10 other states - as far away as Minnesota - but not California.

"Here we are 90 miles away (from Oregon), they'll go clear to Idaho and Montana for a prisoner but they won't come get them here," Baldi said. "It's kind of like they're dumping their trash on us."

Torres' break illustrates what law officers say is a growing problem: Many wanted felons are fleeing to California and getting released because Oregon and other states won't retrieve them.

California cannot order any state to retrieve a suspect.

Part of the problem is that Oregon, unlike most California counties, is part of an informal 11-state shuttle bus system (from Washington to Minnesota) that relays fugitives throughout the West and Midwest, with individual counties picking up the cost.

Oregon used to routinely allocate $1 million each year to retrieve suspects. But because of budget cuts, this year's fugitive budget is $700,000, with most of that money used to extradite murder suspects.

"There's not enough money to bring them all back," said Barbara Hopkins, acting extradition officer for the Oregon State Police.

Fugitives even flaunt the fact that California is a safe zone, officers said. Torres probably is living in California "if he's smart," Baldi said.

"They've flat out told me, `I've got a warrant in Oregon but you can't do anything about it,' " Baldi said. "They feel slightly untouchable."

California Highway Patrol Lt. Jon Lopey, whose 17 officers patrol a 38-mile portion of southern Siskiyou County near the Oregon state line, ran into a similar problem when he stopped an illegal hitchhiker along Interstate 5 six months ago.

A dispatcher determined the hitchhiker was convicted child molester Lowell Gaines, wanted in Oregon for numerous parole violations, including living with a woman and her two young children.

But Oregon state police told Lopey they would not issue an arrest warrant, and Gaines was released within 30 minutes because he was not wanted for any crimes in California.

One solution might be to deny access to the National Crime Information Center, a computer system that quickly tells police if someone is wanted, said Bob Jibson, who oversees extradition for California's attorney general's office. States that don't cooperate with extraditions wouldn't have access.

That idea sounds good to Don Callahan, police chief in Yreka, near Oregon. "If you put them in the system you should put in the commitment to go pick these people up," he said.

California law officers, meanwhile, say they'll go anywhere within the United States to retrieve fugitives, regardless of cost. They wonder why Oregon can't do the same.