PORT ANGELES — Bail was set at $100,000 Monday for an Alabama fugitive who was arrested Saturday at the Port Angeles Walmart.
Dylan Keith Carroll, 24, was charged in Clallam County Superior Court with being a fugitive from justice in another state.
The convicted arsonist was serving the first year of a 13-year prison sentence when he escaped from a minimum-security center in Deatsville, Ala., on Sept. 23, investigators said.
Carroll is also being investigated for possession of a stolen 2016 Chevrolet pickup and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Formal charges are expected to be filed in that case at Carroll’s next court appearance Wednesday.
Acting on tips from Carroll’s grandmother and an Olympic National Park ranger’s wife, deputies tracked the fugitive from Forks to the Port Angeles area.
Carroll was found in the driver’s seat of the pickup at the Walmart parking lot. The vehicle had been backed into an embankment to conceal the Texas licence plate, deputies said.
Clallam County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Michele Devlin requested $50,000 bail for Carroll on both cases.
“He just barely started a 13-year sentence and walked away, so we definitely have a flight risk here,” Devlin told Clallam County Superior Court Judge Brian Coughenour.
“We also have a community safety issue if we have a firearm and he’s not supposed to be having a firearm. He’s going across the country. So we’re asking for $50,000 for both cases.”
Coughenour granted the requested bail amount and scheduled an Oct. 14 extradition hearing for Carroll. Carroll did not waive extradition Monday.
Should he post bail, Carroll’s travel would be restricted to Western Washington.
Carroll told investigators that he walked out of the Frank Lee Work Release Center, stole the pickup and possessed a stolen firearm, Devlin said.
“He drove from Alabama to Washington,” Devlin added.
“He admits to siphoning gas and being rear-ended and not stopping.”
The drive from Deatsville to Forks is about 2,800 miles.
Carroll, who has a juvenile criminal history in Washington, has been convicted in Alabama of second-degree arson, third-degree burglary, theft and making false statements to law enforcement, Devlin said.
He was serving the prison sentence for setting fire to a hotel in Tallassee, Ala., in 2009, according to the Montgomery Advertiser.
After receiving the tip from Carroll’s grandmother, authorities responded to a South Forks Avenue address at about 9 a.m. Saturday. Carroll had left before officers arrived.
The woman told investigators that her grandson was driving a stolen 2016 Chevrolet pickup and was likely heading toward Port Angeles, Sgt. Shaun Minks said in a news release.
Carroll had given the stolen firearm to his grandmother before he left, investigators said.
Peninsula Communications dispatchers relayed the vehicle description to local, state and federal authorities.
A park ranger’s wife reported seeing the pickup heading east on U.S. Highway 101 just east of Port Angeles at about noon Saturday.
Deputies found Carroll inside the pickup with the keys in the ignition a short time later.
He was arrested without further incident.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsula dailynews.com.
Reporter Jesse Major contributed to this report.
