David Price is going to serve at least 6 years in prison—30 years after his conviction on rape charges. Price, 54, went on the run in 1980 while he and another man were facing trial for putting a gun to a prostitute's head and raping her. But after three decades on the lam, authorities arrested the Price when he walked into a Manhattan courthouse to see if his criminal record was still on file, according to the Daily News.
Price—who worked as a bike messenger and a short-order cook at Hooters when he was on the run—went to the courthouse because he wanted make sure the case was closed before applying for a job with the city. That's when officials discovered a 1980 bench warrant and arrested him on the spot. Price says his detention came as a surprise because he had been arrested twice since he fled his trial, once in 1996 for drugs and once in 2005 for hitting his girlfriend. "They could have [put me away] two other times," he said. "Now I'm old and they want to mess with me?"
Although authorities twice failed to connect Price's name and fingerprints with his past conviction, he still belongs behind bars, according to former Assistant District Attorney Michael Dulberg. "It's unfortunate the system didn't pick him up sooner," said Dulberg, who prosecuted Price's case. "But he doesn't get a free pass for that."
