Escapee at large after wild chase
One Nebraska fugitive arrested; second one sought
By CHERYL SABOL
The Daily Interlake
posted Friday August 12, 2005
A Nebraska fugitive was captured after an intense chase to Glacier Park late Thursday morning; a manhunt continued throughout the day near Columbia Falls for a second man who is wanted by the FBI.
Michael "Doc" Dugan, 44, also known as Marvin Dugan, was last seen west of Columbia Falls, where he reportedly had been living. Officials called more than 200 residents and businesses in the area, warning them that Dugan is thought to be armed and dangerous.
The two men reportedly assaulted a female detention officer and escaped June 28 with another man from the Garden County Jail in Oshkosh, Neb. The other man was arrested two weeks later, and a notice was sent Tuesday to Montana that Dugan and Joshua Hansen, 18, might be coming to the Whitefish area, where Dugan has a "base of support."
The FBI is reportedly seeking the two men.
On Thursday morning, the Flathead County Sheriff's Office got a tip that the men were at the Blue Moon Night club Casino and Grill at the intersection of U.S. 2 and Montana 40.
They had reportedly been working there for about a month and caused no trouble, saying they moved here from the Yaak.
One was reportedly fixing something in a restroom when a detective arrived and asked an employee whether she recognized pictures of Hansen and Dugan. The man emerged from the restroom, saw the officer, and both men bolted out the door, presumably getting into a vehicle, according to a source who knows them and asked not to be identified.
Tony DuMay said his neighbor on North Hilltop Drive saw the men race up the street in a Chevy Blazer just after noon.
"They bailed out," DuMay said. "They split when they got down the ravine," he said. Hansen jumped a fence and ran onto DuMay's property, stealing his 1997 Chevy Cavalier with the keys inside while Dugan ran a different direction.
DuMay's daughter was just going out to the car to go somewhere when Hansen tore out.
"He sideswiped a couple of vehicles," DuMay said.
The Sheriff's Office said Hansen struck a truck on Grove Street as he went through Columbia Falls, and shot out of town, starting a pursuit with officers on U.S. 2. Hansen reportedly drove more than 100 mph through heavy summertime traffic.
At the entrance to Glacier National Park, rangers set up a roadblock, the source said. Hansen slammed the stolen car into a National Park Service truck and then fled on foot toward the Alberta Visitors Center. Deputies, rangers and one deputy's dog chased Hansen and caught him near a cabin at the footbridge that crossed the Middle Fork of the Flathead River into Glacier Park. The pursuit lasted 15 minutes.
No one was seriously hurt, but DuMay's vehicle was totaled.
"I'm just out a vehicle," he said.
Meanwhile, an intense manhunt began near the Blue Moon for Dugan, who was last seen wearing a white T-shirt.
Concentrating on the area bordered by U.S. 2 and Tamarack Lane, and Halfmoon Road and Meadow Lake Drive, Sheriff's Office employees called residents in the area, warning them to lock their doors and make sure their keys weren't in their vehicles.
A 13-year-old girl who was in charge of other children for the day took the news soberly and told Warrants Administrator Debra Johnson "I love you" for calling and warning her.
Search-and-rescue dogs were brought in to track Dugan, who has a long criminal history.
He is described as 5 feet, 9 inches tall, weighing about 150 pounds. He has black hair, is balding, and has hazel eyes and a beard.
Anyone who sees him should call law enforcement immediately and should not approach him, officials said.
Hansen was jailed on the Nebraska warrant for flight to avoid prosecution. He faces a multitude of new felony charges in the Flathead after Thursday's event.