Justice is finally served
Published 12:00 am Sunday, July 22, 2001
Just as it has so often in the past, Americas Most Wanted has helped to nab two fugitives from justice. This time the long-running television program led to the capture of two professional swindlers convicted in Kentucky.Martha and David Crowe were convicted in Owensboro in 1996 for using their company, Gold Unlimited Inc., to bilk some 96,000 people in the United States and Canada out of millions of dollars in an investment scam. Estimates of just how much money the company collected under false pretenses from investors ranged from $8 million and $13 million.A judge granted the couple several days to gather their belongings and report to prison, but they never showed up. Instead, they sent a letter to the Madisonville newspaper, stating their plans to leave the country and saying the government destroyed their lives.Efforts to find the Crowes had been unsuccessful until a segment about them aired on Americas Most Wanted, the popular syndicated television program hosted by John Walsh. Within minutes after the program aired, police received a tip that the couple were living in a trailer park in Long Key, Fla.The couple had been living under the aliases of Clint Jackson and Ali Spencer. They were taken into custody by U.S. marshals, who also seized hundreds of dollars, gold coins and weapons inside their trailer.While they gained five years of freedom by failing to report to prison, their original sentences are sure to be lengthened because they were fugitives from justice. And this time they will be given no time to get things in order before reporting to prison. Justice has been served. The Daily Independent, Ashland