Early-morning raids net 43 fugitives in Delco

Some were found in closets and others under beds, but all 43 fugitives who were rounded up in an Upper Darby warrant sweep yesterday wound up together on a big yellow school bus destined for Delaware County Prison.

In what authorities dubbed "Operation We Didn't Forget About You," 45 Upper Darby police officers and Delaware County sheriff's deputies, armed with outstanding warrants, started out about 3:30 a.m., and hit more than 100 homes.

"They're a mixture of white, black, Hispanic, male, female," Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said of the captured fugitives. "We diversified our clean-up-the-town effort."

Investigators spent a month identifying people living in Upper Darby who were being sought for crimes that included arson, sexual assault, gun violations and prostitution.

"A lot of energy was put into the search and research as far as locating where these people were," Delaware County Sheriff Joseph McGinn said.

The oldest warrants dated from 2000, said Sgt. Joe Blackburn of the sheriff's department.

"There were really no rules with this one," Blackburn said. "Everybody was game."

Although some people had to be dragged out of hiding spaces, Chitwood said that about 95 percent of the captured fugitives came to the door - in various stages of dress.

"I don't think some people even own pajamas," he said.

The fugitives - all of whom had skipped bail - ranged in age from 19 to 60, police said.

The farthest distance traveled went to David Hall, who was wanted on a California parole detainer for charges of domestic and child abuse, Chitwood said.

Hall was "embedded" in a closet and police had to forage through piles of clothes and belongings to reach him, Chitwood said.

Once the fugitives were in custody, police tried to get them to give up additional information, he said.

"One of the things we're doing is we're debriefing them to see if they have information on drug trafficking or shootings that have occurred in the community," Chitwood said.

After the fugitives were arraigned at the Upper Darby police station, they were loaded on a school bus and shipped off to prison.

McGinn said that the sweep is one of several that the sheriff's department has conducted in other Delaware County municipalities.

Chitwood promised that the sweep would not be the last one in his jurisdiction. "Am I going to do it every six months?" he asked. "No, but I am going to do it when they least expect it." *