WTNH News Channel 8 / News / 1999

	Fugitives: Where do they go when they're on the run (New Haven-WTNH) _ Gabrielle Gladstone -- F. Mac Buckley -- Alex Kelly. They were or are wanted men with at least one thing in common: they went on the run. News Channel 8's Christina Hager talked with fugitive hunters about where Gladstone and some other well known fugitives on the run might be right now. Imagine trading in your identity, breaking all ties, and starting life over. Hartford attorney F. Mac Buckley apparently tried to. Police say he ran off with thousands of dollars he allegedly stole from his clients. He surrendered after seven weeks, and still hasn't said where he was hiding out. Alex Kelly from Darien lived on the lam for eight years before he was convicted of rape. The FBI finally tracked him down in Switzerland. And now Connecticut investigators are focused on another fugitive -- convicted prostitution-ring leader Gabrielle Gladstone. After he vanished nearly a year ago, a judge sentenced him to 20 years in prison. Ralph DiFonzo, FBI: "He's probably sitting back. He's probably got a book in his hand, his feet up. He's probably drinking vodka and smiling and talking to people. He's got charisma." Gladstone ran what he called a high end escort service, catering to upper class gentlemen, lonely men with money. Our undercover camera caught him offering a female News Channel 8 producer a job. Gladstone: "You have to ask yourself, how acceptable it is to you to have sex with strangers." Gladstone's women mostly worked out of motels in Branford. For decades he advertised in the newspaper . His businesses had dozens of names, some simple, some obscure, some literary, like "Pale Horse, Pale Rider" from the title of a Katherine Anne Porter collection. He's a 71-year-old with a heart condition who smoked filterless Camel cigarettes and drank vodka daily. He speaks at least five languages, loves books, and fancy cars. His Saab is still parked in the driveway of his large Roxbury home where his common law wife and children live. He is polite. During his trial, he even asked a News Channel 8 photographer if he could get him a cup of coffee. Despite his good manners FBI agents call Gladstone nothing more than a pimp. DiFonzo: "He was taking women, turning them over for sexual purposes. I mean that's not a genius. The guy breeds off people." He was convicted in April of 1998 and disappeared while awaiting sentencing. Mother nature gave Gladstone his big break. A spring storm hit Connecticut, causing power outages across the state. It put out the system that monitored his whereabouts through an electronic bracelet. Gladstone took advantage of that breakdown and fled from his home. Edmund Pankau, Fugitive Hunter: "Many of these countries have not signed the government treaties, the MLATS, the Mutual Assistance Treaties, which would require them to turn such people back over to the United States." Retired government fugitive hunter Ed Pankau thinks he knows where Gladstone is. Pankau: "He's most likely gone to Central America, Belize, Honduras, Costa Rica. All of these countries offer many amenities for the white collar criminal." In fact, Pankau also puts bets on where F. Mac Buckley was before he surrendered. Pankau: "I suspect he either went to the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Cayman Islands, or Belize. All of them are within a two-and-a-half hour flight of either Miami or Houston, Texas." Pankau wrote a book on how to disappear without a trace. It's what police say Buckley tried to do, and what Gabrielle Gladstone so far has successfully done. But FBI agents say they never stop looking and just as in the case of Alex Kelly, they expect to find Gladstone someday. too. DiFonzo: "He'll call back and tell us all about poetry and his problems and how we should be changing the world. He's the subject of his dreams quite a bit." If you have any information about Gabrielle Gladstone you're urged to call Connecticut's Fugitive Task Force at 1.800.791.9996. Today's News Page. WTNH Home Page. ©1999 WTNH/WTNH-DT A LIN station.

Fugitives: Where do they go when they're on the run
(New Haven-WTNH) _ Gabrielle Gladstone -- F. Mac Buckley -- Alex Kelly. They were or are wanted men with at least one thing in common: they went on the run.
News Channel 8's Christina Hager talked with fugitive hunters about where Gladstone and some other well known fugitives on the run might be right now.

Imagine trading in your identity, breaking all ties, and starting life over. Hartford attorney F. Mac Buckley apparently tried to. Police say he ran off with thousands of dollars he allegedly stole from his clients. He surrendered after seven weeks, and still hasn't said where he was hiding out.

Alex Kelly from Darien lived on the lam for eight years before he was convicted of rape. The FBI finally tracked him down in Switzerland.

And now Connecticut investigators are focused on another fugitive -- convicted prostitution-ring leader Gabrielle Gladstone. After he vanished nearly a year ago, a judge sentenced him to 20 years in prison.

Ralph DiFonzo, FBI: "He's probably sitting back. He's probably got a book in his hand, his feet up. He's probably drinking vodka and smiling and talking to people. He's got charisma."

Gladstone ran what he called a high end escort service, catering to upper class gentlemen, lonely men with money. Our undercover camera caught him offering a female News Channel 8 producer a job.

Gladstone: "You have to ask yourself, how acceptable it is to you to have sex with strangers."

Gladstone's women mostly worked out of motels in Branford. For decades he advertised in the newspaper . His businesses had dozens of names, some simple, some obscure, some literary, like "Pale Horse, Pale Rider" from the title of a Katherine Anne Porter collection.

He's a 71-year-old with a heart condition who smoked filterless Camel cigarettes and drank vodka daily. He speaks at least five languages, loves books, and fancy cars. His Saab is still parked in the driveway of his large Roxbury home where his common law wife and children live. He is polite. During his trial, he even asked a News Channel 8 photographer if he could get him a cup of coffee.

Despite his good manners FBI agents call Gladstone nothing more than a pimp.

DiFonzo: "He was taking women, turning them over for sexual purposes. I mean that's not a genius. The guy breeds off people."

He was convicted in April of 1998 and disappeared while awaiting sentencing. Mother nature gave Gladstone his big break. A spring storm hit Connecticut, causing power outages across the state. It put out the system that monitored his whereabouts through an electronic bracelet. Gladstone took advantage of that breakdown and fled from his home.

Edmund Pankau, Fugitive Hunter: "Many of these countries have not signed the government treaties, the MLATS, the Mutual Assistance Treaties, which would require them to turn such people back over to the United States."

Retired government fugitive hunter Ed Pankau thinks he knows where Gladstone is.

Pankau: "He's most likely gone to Central America, Belize, Honduras, Costa Rica. All of these countries offer many amenities for the white collar criminal."

In fact, Pankau also puts bets on where F. Mac Buckley was before he surrendered.

Pankau: "I suspect he either went to the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Cayman Islands, or Belize. All of them are within a two-and-a-half hour flight of either Miami or Houston, Texas."

Pankau wrote a book on how to disappear without a trace. It's what police say Buckley tried to do, and what Gabrielle Gladstone so far has successfully done. But FBI agents say they never stop looking and just as in the case of Alex Kelly, they expect to find Gladstone someday. too.

DiFonzo: "He'll call back and tell us all about poetry and his problems and how we should be changing the world. He's the subject of his dreams quite a bit."

If you have any information about Gabrielle Gladstone you're urged to call Connecticut's Fugitive Task Force at 1.800.791.9996.

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