Facebook Fugitive No More: Online Gamble Leads Mont. Cops To Calif. Parole Jumper, 12 Years Later

By: Edecio Martinez
Topics: Daily Blotter

Facebook Leads Montana Cops To California Parole Jumper

(CBS/AP)

HELENA, Mont. (CBS/AP) The Facebook status of a California parole jumper can be changed from "fugitive" to "captive."

Authorities in Montana say Robert Lewis Crose, who absconded from parole 12 years ago, was arrested in northern Montana after police tracked the 47-year-old via updates on his Facebook page.

When will they learn?

Glacier County sheriff's Sgt. Tom Siefert tells the Independent Record newspaper that Crose's page tipped off a fugitive task force that he was in the Cut Bank, Mont., area.

Some of his posts mentioned snow - even complained about the cold - and mentioned winning $600 playing Keno. When a friend asked where he was, he responded, "Cut Bank."

Police circulated pictures and a tip led to Crose's arrest Saturday at a casino.

Crose was convicted in California of making a terrorist threat and a gun violation for using a sawed-off shotgun to fend off an intruder at his Ventura appliance store in 1996. He served less than a year in prison.

The Los Angeles Times reports Crose then returned to prison for a parole violation, and was paroled again in 1998.

Now his status is "un-free."

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