FBI warrants expected for husband, wife in escape case

Jace Radke and Jerry Fink

Monday, Aug. 16, 1999 | 11:27 a.m.

The FBI is expected to obtain warrants this morning for the arrest of escaped prisoner Timothy Lee Blackburn and his wife, Puthea Lee.

Blackburn was at the jail awaiting trial on charges of robbing more than $1 million from a Bank of America ATM repository last year when he made a daring escape while visiting with his wife Wednesday.

FBI agent Kevin Caudle said Blackburn's brother, Terry Blackburn, and Lee's sister, Seila Lin, were arrested Sunday morning.

Terry Blackburn was arrested for aiding and abetting in the escape, but what role he played was not explained by authorities.

Lin was arrested shortly after Terry Blackburn was taken into custody, Caudle said.

"She was arrested for a felony charge of making false statements to the authorities, which in this case was the FBI," he said.

Police said Timothy Lee Blackburn, 25, was able to elude security and 27 bullets as he and his wife ran from the jail and escaped in a waiting car.

Puthea Lee, 24, also goes by the name Sophia Kim.

The FBI has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to Blackburn's arrest, and it is believed he is still in the Las Vegas area, Caudle said.

The escape took place at about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Corrections officers believe that Lee was able to sneak a gun and some kind of tool into the visitation area of the jail. The glass partition that separates prisoners from visitors is believed to have been removed by the couple, who then walked out through a series of open security doors, North Las Vegas Police spokesman Chris Larotonda said.

While fleeing through the parking lot Blackburn and Lee fired three shots at two warrant officers, and the officers fired back 27 times.

Police said none of the bullets struck the pair.

The couple fled in a gray or silver Isuzu pickup that was later recovered in a North Las Vegas parking lot.

Authorities consider Blackburn, a Las Vegas resident, one of the ringleaders of a group that allegedly kidnapped a janitorial crew in December 1998 and used its keys to break into an ATM bank vault repository.

As an escaped federal prisoner Blackburn is considered armed and dangerous, Caudle said.

Anyone who sees Blackburn or knows his whereabouts is asked to call the FBI at 385-1281.