Infamous Prison Escapee Still At Large

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William Willcut

Montana police say two men who were assigned to a crew that moves irrigation pipe at the Montana State Prison ranch escaped on June 8, 2007.  45-year-old Kelly Frank and 22-year-old William Willcutt were reported as missing when a supervisor noticed a truck and the two men were absent from roll call.  The truck was eventually found, but police say the men are currently on the run.

Kelly Frank was serving ten years in prison for overcharging talk show host David Letterman for painting he had done on his Montana ranch.  Prosecutors initially charged Frank with solicitation to kidnap Letterman's son.  But they dropped the charges in exchange for guilty pleas on three other charges, including felony theft and misdemeanor obstruction.

Now, authorities say that a weekend theft that occurred at a store 40 miles away from where the pair escaped, may have been the work of Willcut.  Employees at the Clancy Store told officials that a man they believed to be William Willcut stole three knives, .38 caliber ammunition, and some food.  Law enforcement in Montana have said that there's a good chance that the person in question was indeed Willcut, but they have also been combing other areas for signs of the escapees.  Police say that Willcut is familiar with the Clancy area after committing several burglaries there in 2005.

Prison Warden Mike Mahoney further said that it appears that a third party has stashed provisions and possibly weapons for Frank and Willcut. 

On June 11, 2007, the Department of Homeland Security provided a Black Hawk helicopter and 15 people to assist in a ground search of terrain south of the Deer Lodge area.  The ground team used all-terrain vehicles and a dog but authorities were unable to confirm any sightings.  Currently, the prison search team has transitioned into a scaled-back "observation team."

Both Willcut and Frank were working on the prison ranch that operates as a part of a program to rehabilitate prisoners.  Officials say that Willcut, who had a parole hearing earlier this year, lived in a prison work dormitory.  Frank, who would have been eligible for parole in three months, lived within the prison. 

Prison Escapees Back Behind Bars

Kelly Frank's booking photo
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One day after U.S. Forest workers came across a startled pair of prison escapees, AMW has learned that both men, Kelly Frank and William Willcut, are back in police custody.  Authorities say that the men were bathing in a creek in the Flathead National Forest in Montana when they were surprised by workers and fled with little time to get dressed.  Montana State Prison Warden Mike Mahoney reported that they had reason to believe that one of the escapees had time to get partially dressed, but the other man didn't have a chance to get much on. 

The search for Frank and Willcut moved to the Swan Lake area on Tuesday, June 12 after a vehicle found abandoned in the woods was traced to Anaconda, near Deer Lodge. The owner of the car said his house had been burglarized and three weapons were missing.

The Forest Service workers checked the men's nearby campsite and found Department of Corrections clothing, an address book and other items that identified the men as Willcut and Frank.

Officers searched the area throughout the night and into the next day when they descended upon a cabin belonging to one of Frank's relatives.  In the cabin, they found the 45-year-old escapee, but there was no sign of his partner-in-crime, William Willcutt. 

Authorities believed it would only be a matter of time before Willcut was apprehended -- and they were right.  Hours after Frank was put back into handcuffs, a Missoula, Montana SWAT team surrounded another cabin in the Swan Lake area and arrested Willcutt.