oddly enough

oddly enough

Fugitive’s role in horror film leads to his arrest

TACOMA, Wash.

A fugitive has been arrested after federal agents saw his photo in a Washington state newspaper that ran a story about a low-budget horror movie.

The News Tribune reported that 44-year-old Jason Stange, a convicted bank robber, plays a leading role in the movie “Marla Mae.” The Olympian newspaper ran a feature story on the film Friday with photos that showed Stange on the film set in Olympia.

Federal agents tracked down Stange and arrested him Friday at a restaurant near the set.

Stange pleaded guilty to an armed bank robbery in 2006 and was given a prison sentence of more than nine years. A federal probation violation warrant was issued last year after Stange left a halfway house.

The film’s producer said Stange will remain in the film, scheduled for release next year.

Woman says she had feeling before discovering treasure

SEBASTIAN, Fla.

The night before her treasure-hunting family discovered $1 million worth of Spanish gold off central Florida’s Atlantic coast last month, Hillary Schmitt had a premonition they were going to find something big.

“I’m like, ‘What is this feeling?’” Hillary Schmitt said Tuesday. “There was something that was telling me, shaking my shoulders, that ‘You’re going to find it. Tomorrow is your day. It’s your birthday. You’re going to find gold.’”

The next morning, she was on a boat about 1,000 feet off the coast of Fort Pierce when her brother, Eric, surfaced from a 12-foot dive with a gold coin in his hand. He went down again and came back with two more.

Over the course of the morning, the Schmitt family found 51 gold coins – including a rare 1715 “royal” intended for the king of Spain – and a 40-foot gold chain.

The discovery came within weeks of the 300th anniversary of the sinking of the 11-ship Spanish fleet off the Florida coast after getting caught in a hurricane during a voyage from Havana to Spain. The loss of the ships and as many as 1,000 lives was considered one of colonial Spain’s biggest maritime disasters off Florida.

“To find a 1715 gold royal is incredible. There are only a handful that are even known,” said Ben Costello, a director of the Pennsylvania-based educational group the 1715 Fleet Society. “To find it within a month of the 300th anniversary is almost religious. The odds of finding one are long indeed.”

The Schmitt family – father Rick, mother Lisa, and siblings Eric and Hillary – have hunted treasure off Florida’s coast for two decades. They previously discovered 50 feet of gold chain in 2013 as subcontractors for Queens Jewels, the salvage company that owns rights to the 1715 shipwreck site.

Associated Press