YOUNGSTOWN Fugitive found with son appears in court
Mark Samples will be returned to Minnesota within a week for another hearing.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mark W. Samples didn't contest the fact that he's the man authorities suspect of being on the lam for more than a year from Minnesota, where he faces trial in the robbery of a credit union.
That's about all the 40-year-old Wisconsin man said during a brief appearance Monday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Youngstown.
Now, federal marshals will take Samples back to Minnesota for a preliminary hearing to determine whether he violated terms of a $25,000 bond that had been set for him while he awaited trial there on charges of robbing the credit union and brandishing a firearm during a violent crime.
"He is not admitting that he committed these crimes. He is only admitting that he is wanted in Minnesota," said Linda H. Barr, assistant U.S. attorney.
Samples' court-appointed lawyer, Neal G. Atway of Youngstown, said Samples could have demanded a hearing to make the government prove he's the same man who is wanted for robbing the credit union. He would not say why Samples elected to waive such a hearing.
What happened
Samples was arrested Friday afternoon at a home on state Route 172 in East Rochester in Columbiana County. Authorities had been searching for him since June 2002, when he failed to return his 3-year-old son, Christopher, from a weekend visit.
Samples and his estranged wife, Jennifer Bjork, shared custody of Christopher. Samples took the boy for what was supposed to be a weekend visit, then called Bjork and said he was taking him for a two-week camping trip.
The two left the state and didn't return, and Samples was considered a fugitive. The FBI launched a nationwide search for both Mark and Christopher Samples.
The boy, who was in the East Rochester house when authorities raided it Friday, was unharmed and has been returned to his mother, who is now divorced from Samples.
Atway and local FBI officials declined to say why Samples had elected to locate in Columbiana County.
Heading back
Samples, who wore handcuffs and an orange Mahoning County Jail uniform into the courtroom, will be returned to Minnesota within a week, Atway said. He said any charges related to the taking of the child will be filed there.
The FBI wouldn't say how long Samples and his son had been living in Ohio. The agency said it was investigating whether Samples had help while he was a fugitive.
FBI spokesman Paul McCabe in Minneapolis said a tip developed through the Minnesota "Crimestoppers" program led the bureau to arrest Samples at a home in East Rochester, located about 30 miles southwest of Youngstown.
More than a dozen police officers and FBI agents went to the house Friday and found Samples working in the front yard. When he fled into the house, officers broke down the door and took him into custody, Kane said.
Agents agreed to Samples' request to be allowed some time to talk with his son and say goodbye, according to Kane.
An FBI agent from Minnesota accompanied the boy on a flight from Pittsburgh back home. He was given a fast-food meal and a teddy bear.
Tipster's information
The Mahoning County Violent Crimes Fugitive Task Force, a multiagency group led by the FBI, went to the house on the basis of a tip phoned to law enforcement in Minnesota. McCabe said that because the investigation was continuing he could not reveal what prompted the tip.
Kane said the tip was very specific. He declined to characterize the tipster in any detail.
The FBI was checking reports that Samples may have worked in the area as a landscaper, Kane said.
XThe Associated Press contributed to this report.