Alleem Borden is arrested in Cambria County, days after fleeing police custody at Philly hospital

Escaped prisoner Alleem Borden was arrested Thursday afternoon more than 200 miles away from where he fled police custody earlier this week, U.S. Marshals said.

Authorities took Borden, 29, into custody in Johnstown, Cambria County, about 2 p.m. Investigators discovered him hiding in the attic crawlspace of a home on the 300 block of David Street, and officers “forcibly removed” him from the space, supervising Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert Clark said at a news conference Thursday.

Borden is in custody at the Cambria County Prison in Ebensburg, and will be brought back to Philadelphia at a later date. He is the seventh fugitive arrested by the Eastern Pennsylvania Violent Crime Fugitive Task Force in the last year, Clark said.

“The public should take comfort in knowing that there is a professional, dedicated, investigative fugitive task force that specializes in finding people who do not want to be found,” Clark said.

Investigators developed information that Borden had been picked up in Philadelphia and driven to Cambria County after he eluded authorities for a second time on Tuesday afternoon. He has a criminal history in Cambria County, and authorities had already begun investigating “the possibility of Borden fleeing to Western Pennsylvania,” Clark said.

Police initially searched an apartment in Johnstown late Thursday morning after receiving information that Borden had been staying there, but were not able to locate him. Investigators, however, later received information that Borden had reached out to a woman with prior connections to Philadelphia, and they went on to respond to her home on David Street.

The woman, whom police did not identify, gave authorities permission to search the residence, and indicated that Borden was inside, Clark said.

No other people have been charged in connection with Borden’s escape, Clark said. But, he added, “that could change in the future.”

Before his arrest Thursday, Borden was last spotted on Tuesday afternoon running from a home on the 5300 block of West Columbia Street in West Philadelphia. In that encounter, Clark said Wednesday, Borden eluded police by sprinting from the house and jumping down a 30-foot embankment to SEPTA tracks before fleeing north.

Borden was initially arrested Sunday after he was suspected of stealing a running Hyundia Elantra owned by a person making a food delivery on Frankford Avenue last week, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. He escaped from police custody early Monday morning at Temple University’s Episcopal Hospital on Lehigh Avenue in North Philadelphia after being taken to the facility complaining of pain following his arrest.

Previously, Borden pleaded guilty to resisting arrest and flight to avoid apprehension in connection with a 2020 escape. Clark said Thursday it was not yet clear when he would be returned to Philadelphia.