Fugitive couldn’t hide in Las Vegas

Jace Radke

Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2002 | 11:10 a.m.

The idea for a reputed Los Angeles area gang member was to lie low in Las Vegas.

He was wanted in connection with two homicides and evidently hoped the trail California authorities were following vanished. He wanted to blend in with the thousands of visitors and new residents who come to Las Vegas every month.

But after five months of bouncing around the city, Teddy Roosevelt Watson was arrested Saturday by a U.S. marshal-led task force. That added Watson's name to a long list of fugitives who thought the shadows outside Las Vegas' neon lights would be a good place to hide.

"Fugitives come here to avoid the heat," said Fedencio Rivera, acting chief of the U.S. marshals in Las Vegas. "They come here and try to stay low-key. They try to mix in with all the other people to become a new face and get a new start."

Las Vegas remains a haven for fugitives with the Las Vegas Criminal Apprehension Team, an FBI- and Metro Police-led task force, already making 401 arrests this year, Metro Sgt. Ted Lee said.

The apprehension team arrested 562 violent offenders in 2000 and 637 last year.

Las Vegas ranks with Detroit, Washington, Baltimore, Los Angeles and Philadelphia as perennial leaders in numbers of fugitives apprehended, Lee said.

"It's surprising how many fugitives seem to show up here," he said.

They come to Las Vegas for the same reasons as the 35 million tourists who visit the city every year, Rivera said.

"It's a lifestyle that you don't find anywhere else," Rivera said. "It's a transient population that usually has a lot of money to spend."

Watson, 30, may have been trying to tap into that cash flow over the last five months, authorities said.

Watson was arrested Saturday at an apartment near St. Rose Parkway and Eastern Avenue, where he was living with an outcall dancer and allegedly selling drugs, a spokesman for the marshal's office said.

Watson was charged with selling 59 grams of marijuana and 29 grams of cocaine, and was found with $23,000.

Watson is facing murder charges for two Inglewood, Calif., homicides, and is a suspect in three other homicides in the Los Angeles area, Rivera said.

Watson was reportedly going by the name, "Shawn Springs" in Las Vegas and was seen wearing a red football jersey. Springs is a former Ohio State football player and has played cornerback professionally for six seasons with the Seattle Seahawks. Ohio State's team colors are silver and red.

Many fugitives that travel to Las Vegas may commit some crimes, but usually it's drug sales or something they think will enable them to stay under the radar of law enforcement, Rivera said.

Watson, a reputed high ranking member of an Inglewood gang, was extradited back to Los Angeles Monday.

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