In 2018, a man escaped from a federal prison in Littleton, Colorado, and was apprehended in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Authorities claim they discovered him using a “flashy” alias.
Allen Todd May, 58, had been on the run since December 21, 2018, when he escaped from the Englewood Federal Correctional Institution. May initially stole a Bureau of Prisons work truck and drove off the prison grounds without being noticed.
He used a credit card to rent a U-Haul truck from a Denver location and then abandoned it behind a Waffle House in Fort Worth, Texas, hours later. May was seen the day after his escape at his mother’s house in Houston, but a US Marshals Service spokesman told Fox 31 that the trail for May had gone cold for years until an anonymous tipster surfaced a few months ago.
The United States Marshals Service began receiving anonymous tips that May had changed his name and was now living in South Florida.
Investigators discovered May had assumed a new identity as Jacob Turner and was living a lavish lifestyle in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale.
In mid-May, he was photographed at a high society fundraiser and published in the Palm Beach Daily News. He was identified as Jacob Turner in the caption.
May was arrested at a Fort Lauderdale home less than two miles from the beach on Monday night. According to investigators, the house is worth nearly $1.5 million.
When US Marshals apprehended May, he was wearing a Rolex watch and driving a Mercedes worth approximately $125,000, according to agents.
