One Escapee Is Recaptured at Motel 3 Miles From Jail

A man accused of murder, one of two escapees from the Orange County Jail, was captured Friday sitting beside the swimming pool at a Tustin motel, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said.

Authorities searched door-to-door into the night for the second fugitive, a convicted murderer, who remained at large for the fifth day.

Robert Joseph Clark, 23, of Palm Springs was arrested at the Sixpence Inn, 1611 El Camino Way, Tustin, about three miles east of the jail where he and Ivan Von Staich, 29, escaped on Sunday, Sheriff’s Department and Tustin police spokesmen said.

An unidentified citizen spotted Clark in the area of the motel Friday and contacted Tustin police, according to Sheriff’s Lt. Bob Rivas.

Sheriff’s deputies found Clark sitting in a deck chair by the motel swimming pool shortly before noon Friday and arrested him without incident, Rivas said.

Door-to-Door Search

Authorities said Friday night that they had reason to believe that Staich also was at the motel. Officers with guns drawn searched the motel door-to-door Friday afternoon and into the night as a Sheriff’s Department helicopter hovered in a light rain. Deputies methodically knocked on one motel door at a time in the 178-room complex, then sent police dogs in before entering each room.

Kenneth Gove, a mechanic from Mississippi who has stayed at the motel for a week, said he saw Clark being led away by arresting officers. Gove, 37, said he overheard a deputy mention that Clark told officers that Staich had been there only five minutes earlier.

Some motel residents stood against the walls with their front doors open, staring at the commotion. But other guests, apparently in rooms closer to the one believed to have been used by the fugitives, were evacuated by authorities.

The information leading to Clark’s arrest came from a “man in his 20s” who said both escapees had been seen at the motel Friday morning, Tustin Police Sgt. Frank Semelsberger said.

One Spotted Earlier

But Clark, in particular, was spotted during the prior two days, lounging around the pool near a soft-drink machine, a deputy said.

There had been other sightings of the fugitives in the area, prompting a similar police search Thursday on Mitchell Street, about a mile south of the motel, Semelsberger said.

The officers said that when Clark was taken into custody about 11:30 a.m. Friday, he was wearing jeans, tennis shoes, a sport shirt open at the neck and a heavy, dark jacket.

Clark and Staich escaped wearing orange jail jump suits. One jump suit was found later near 15th and Flower streets, about 10 blocks from the jail.

Initially on Friday, authorities believed both fugitives had been in a room in the west section of the Sixpence Inn, a deputy said. But officers later found the room vacant.

Joseph Norton, director of operations for Sixpence in Southern California, said police focused their search for Staich in the motel’s 80-room lodge, one of two buildings at the motel.

Sheriff’s spokesmen said it was not known whether Staich is armed but that he should be considered dangerous.

Penni Hall, 20, a cosmetologist who checked into the lodge with her husband Thursday night, said she saw Clark sitting by the swimming pool about 7 a.m. Friday.

Clark, who was fully clothed, acted “real fidgety” and constantly looked around, she said.

“He was just sitting there facing my window,” Hall said. “He sat there about 45 minutes. I was going to go for a morning swim . . . , but I looked at him and walked back inside and said, ‘No way.’ ”

Later, Hall said she looked out of her window and saw officers wearing dark ski masks and using dogs to search the motel. She became nervous and called the switchboard operator, who told her police were looking for “two murderers,” Hall said, adding that the switchboard operator told her to lock her doors and stay inside.

After 4 p.m., Hall and her husband were evacuated by police from the motel, she said.

Overpowered Deputy

Clark and Staich escaped Sunday from the rooftop recreation area of the County Jail by overpowering a lone, unarmed sheriff’s deputy. They used a metal bar and electric cord from a maintenance locker to pry up a security screen and rappel down to a one-story roof below, dropping to the ground from there.

Sheriff’s officials said this week that two deputies were assigned to guard Clark and Staich while they took their mandatory recreation period atop the four-story jail.

But one deputy left the roof to respond to an emergency elsewhere in the jail, Assistant Sheriff Jerry R. Krans said. The second deputy, who was supposed to remain in a locked guardhouse, stepped out when the inmates asked to use a restroom, Undersheriff Raul Ramos said.

As the deputy moved to open the restroom, he was overpowered by the two inmates, who manacled him with his own handcuffs, Sheriff’s Department officials said. The deputies have not been identified.

At the time of his escape, Clark was awaiting trial on murder and robbery charges stemming from the January, 1984, slaying of David Martinez, whose body was found dumped in an unincorporated area near Irvine.

Escaped Once Before

Staich, who escaped once before from Riverside County Jail, was convicted in December, 1985, of second-degree murder and attempted murder for a 1983 attack on his former girlfriend and her husband.

Staich kicked down the door at the home of Cynthia and Robert Topper and burst in with a claw hammer. He hit Topper several times with the hammer before taking a gun away from him and shooting him three times. Staich beat Cynthia Topper on the head so severely that she was forced to undergo two operations to save her life.

Before his escape, Staich was awaiting sentencing and faced up to 37 years in prison.

Sheriff’s deputies returned Clark to the jail Friday afternoon. A spokesman said additional charges will be filed in connection with the escape.

The American Red Cross set up an evacuation center at Tustin High School, less than a mile from the Sixpence Inn, for the 40 or 50 people expected to be displaced during the search.

According to Norton, Sixpence’s director of operations, the motel’s policy when registering customers is to request a form of valid identification, such as a driver’s license or Social Security card.

In Clark’s case, he may have had someone else register for him or may have been a guest of one of the lodgers, Norton said. “We’re not totally sure.”

Norton said the emergency had resulted in many anxious customers either clamoring for information or trying to check out of the motel. About 100 people were registered at the time of the arrest.

“It’s a mess here,” Norton said Friday evening, adding that the motel administration was cooperating with law-enforcement agencies.

Contributing to this article was Times staff writer David Reyes.