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Alabama fugitive caught in Orlando nearly 10 years later

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — An Alabama inmate who has been on the run for nearly a decade was caught in Orlando and he may have been hiding there for years.

Charles Pierce was booked into the Orange County Jail under the name Eddie Pierce.

Investigators said he walked away from a work program in Alabama in 2005 and had been going by an alias.

They said he stole a utility truck in the city of Andalusia and headed south.

Law enforcement tried to stop him in Panama City in a high-speed chase, but they said he stole a second car there, and has likely been in Orlando ever since.

Orange County jail officials figured out the man wasn’t who he said he was when they ran his fingerprints after he skipped a court appearance for a drug possession charge.

Jail officials said if Pierce had gone to his court date, he may never have been caught, since it was his fingerprints during booking that gave him away.

“Ten years is a long time to stay out of trouble,” said Maj. Rich Powell with Orange County corrections. “The system is all interconnected and we were able to eventually identify him.”

People inside the home listed on his arrest warrant said he used to date one of their family members and they had no idea he was a wanted man.

WFTV learned Pierce would have served three years on a grand theft charge in Alabama.