Mug Shots Illustrate Success Stories: Seattle Team Captures 719 Fugitives -- Team Outsmarts, Rounds Up Felons

SINCE IT WAS formed two years ago, a task force of FBI, Seattle, King County and state corrections officers has compiled an impressive record of capturing 719 fugitives. Members credit teamwork, training and a scam or two.

In the beginning, Sean Zelka was a bit like a cowboy without a rope or horse, trying to round up ornery, stray steers in open country.

Every day, when Zelka left his office in downtown Seattle to search for fugitives from Washington's prisons, he had to do it alone, without a gun and without the authority to arrest anyone.

His work began in the summer of 1991 when the state Department of Corrections decided to go after escapees and parolees on the lam. Until then, the state had depended on local police to look for Corrections Department fugitives.

But local authorities weren't finding many, said Zelka, 28, who works for the Corrections Department. "They focused on their own warrants," he said. "Our fugitives weren't a priority."

Although good intentioned, the department had set Zelka up in a somewhat perilous situation: Corrections employees are not commissioned officers and they generally can't carry a weapon. Yet, Zelka was charged with finding felons, men and women often considered dangerous.

"I had to watch out for my safety . . ." Zelka recalled. "It was tough not having a gun. It was frustrating. If I felt I was close to somebody, I had to call SPD (Seattle Police Department) or KCP (King County Police). A lot of times, I had to wait."

All that changed two years ago when the FBI offered to help local police hunt for fugitives.

Zelka now carries a sidearm and has special commissions from King County Police and the U.S. Marshal's Office to make arrests.

And he doesn't have to work alone anymore.

He is part of the Seattle Area Fugitive Apprehension Team, a seven-member task force made up of the FBI, Seattle, King County and the Department of Corrections.

"I have all sorts of resources now," Zelka said. They include access to canine units, tactical squads, manpower and surveillance equipment from the four agencies.

Teamwork is so vital to safety and successful tracking that the FBI sent the entire team to train at FBI headquarters in Quantico, Va., said task-force head David Burroughs, a San Francisco native who joined the FBI 12 years ago.

"We were trained together in a mock city," he said. "We went through real arrest scenarios. Actors were hired to be the bad guys. We learned how to survive. We learned how to get people out of motel rooms. We've done that often in Seattle."

Since its formation in 1991, the team has arrested 719 violent felons, about a third of them wanted by the Department of Corrections. Most were arrested for sex offenses, narcotics violations and assaults. About 30 were wanted for murder or manslaughter.

A symbol of the team's success is displayed on the walls of its office on the 28th floor of a bank building in downtown Seattle. A mug shot of each of the more than 700 fugitives the team has caught is pinned, chronologically, on peg boards hanging from every wall.

They all thought they could outsmart the law. They were wrong, laughs Burroughs, jabbing a finger at the mugs and recounting the story behind the face.

-- The first photograph is of Squire Johnson Jr., the team's first capture, caught on the first day of operation, Nov. 8, 1991. Burroughs glosses over Johnson's case because the team is not particularly proud of the arrest. It was too easy. Johnson, 69 and frail, was in slippers and a bathrobe when they collared him at home.

-- The team found Michael Okarma, 50, a fugitive parolee from a child-rape case, working as a janitor at a downtown business.

Okarma, when confronted by authorities on Jan. 8, 1992, reportedly asked if he could get his lunch box. Team members, however, opened the lunch box for him and found two loaded weapons, prompting Okarma to run. Zelka chased him down.

"You never know which guys will be trouble," Burroughs said.

-- The team's most violent encounter came in March of this year when they went after Ural Daniels, 27, at his Queen Anne Hill apartment. He had outstanding warrants for assault and robbery and was also wanted for questioning in a murder.

Investigators found Daniels by locating people who bought drugs from him. Investigators learned from the drug users that Daniels always kept a machine gun ready, even while watching television. The team thought it would be too risky to go in after him, so the Seattle Police tactical squad was brought in. Upon learning police were on to him, Daniels fired his machine gun out the window, then shot himself to death after a 12-hour standoff.

-- The team didn't have to look very far to find Harry Scoville, 70, a convicted child molester wanted in Boston on child molesting-related charges.

While examining the warrant on Aug. 25, 1993, FBI team member Gary Schoenlein turned to Burroughs and said: "This looks like the guy who works in the coffee shop downstairs." Sure enough, the grandfatherly man who always smiled in the shop was the fugitive. Scoville was booked for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

-- Early last month, the team went to the Kent home of William Rod, 26, who was being sought on a county narcotics warrant after running out of a courtroom.

"We searched the house high and low and couldn't find him, but we suspected he was in there," Burroughs said. "The last place he could be was in the attic. We try to avoid sticking our head in attics, for obvious reasons."

King County Detective Ralf McAllister had an idea. He quietly instructed everyone to say: "I guess he's not here. Let's go." Then, McAllister opened the front door and closed it.

Within a few seconds, the team heard rustling in the attic. Rod agreed to come down only after the team threatened to send up a dog.

"Ralf is our primary scammer," Burroughs explained. "If we need a scam to get someone, we call on Ralf."

McAllister's favorite ploy is to don a pizza uniform and attach a pizza-delivery sign to the roof of his car. He then drives to a home or apartment where an escapee is believed to be staying.

That's how he caught Carroll Walden, who was being sought for violating his parole after being convicted of indecent liberties.

"Carroll, did you order pizza?" Walden's mother yelled over her shoulder when McAllister appeared at the front door of a home in Edmonds.

The team moved in and made the arrest.

Outside, McAllister put his arm around a stunned Walden and had a team member take a photograph of "The Pizza Man" making a delivery.

------------------ TASK FORCE ARRESTS ------------------ By crime, since 1991

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Murder, attempted murder, manslaughter 31

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Rape, child molestation, other sex crimes 153

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Assault 117

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Narcotics 134

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Robbery 65

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Theft 59

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Kidnapping 10

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Arson 11

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Weapons violations 7

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Other crimes 132

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Total 719

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Source: Seattle Area Fugitive Apprehension Team.