Golden Boys Gone Bad

He was the class president at one of Portland's largest high schools and he had a scholarship to run track next year in college, reports CBS News Correspondent Sandra Hughes.

But police say 18-year-old Tom Curtis and his classmate Ethan Thrower, a member of the choir and a top scholar were the two armed robbers caught on a surveillance video which was broadcast just last Saturday on America's Most Wanted.

"They were terrorists...They held a gun to the head of our clerk and counted and asked him if he wanted to die," said Donna Nelson, owner of the thrice-robbed Beaumont Market.

Police arrested Thrower after they say he accidentally shot himself during robbery number 19 then they started tracking the track star.

But Tom Curtis had already run to the beaches of Mazatlan, Mexico. While police couldn't find him, his classmates did. During their senior trip they partied with him, gave him money and told no one.

When the students got back to Portland and word leaked out that they had seen their fugitive friend but didn't alert police, the community was outraged -- many couldn't believe they had kept quiet.

But some of Tom Curtis's friends considered him a kind of folk hero in regular calls to talk radio.

"I think you people need to let him do his own thing. You people need to back off of him," said one caller.

The 18-year-old desperado had outfoxed police for months but last night they finally caught up with him at the Tropicana hotel in Las Vegas. Now the former homecoming king will be brought back to Portland, where he faces a minimum of 7 years in prison.

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