Published: May 14, 2009 10:57 pm      

Boucher faces bond hearing

CHATSWORTH — The wife of a Virginia prison escapee who was captured in Eton Wednesday is expected to have a bond hearing this morning before a Murray County magistrate judge.

Debbie Lynn Boucher, 53, 460 Hooker Road, Lot 1, Eton, was charged Wednesday by the Murray County Sheriff’s Office with hindering the apprehension of a criminal since she knew her husband, Richard Paul Boucher, 56, was a fugitive. The charge is a felony and could bring one to five years in prison.

Authorities believe the couple lived in Murray County most of the 27 years since his escape.

Richard Boucher is being held in the Whitfield County Jail because he was arrested by the Conasauga Safe Streets Task Force, which handled the anonymous tip received by the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office recently. He and his wife were using the aliases of Eric and Debbie Coleman.

“The task force notified us, and we went with them (to make the arrest) since they had the warrant on him,” said Chief Deputy Ray Sitton of the Murray sheriff’s office, which also charged him with possession of a weapon by a felon. A search of the residence uncovered a rifle.

Richard Boucher escaped from a prison in Chesapeake in 1982 while serving a 10-year sentence for robbery, and allegedly struck a guard in the head with an iron during the breakout.

FBI special agent Stephen Emmett said he was unsure how long Boucher had been incarcerated in Virginia, but was told he “wasn’t far into his sentence.” He said it would probably take a week to two weeks for him to be transferred back to the Virginia Department of Corrections.

“They’ve waited 27 years, they can wait a couple more weeks,” he said of the Virginia authorities who issued the federal warrant after his escape. “He’ll have to see what Murray and Whitfield want to do with their charges. Whitfield may be using the fugitive from justice charge to ensure he’s held. He will certainly be deemed a flight risk.”

Magistrate Judge Bryant Cochran will be on the bench when Debbie Lynn Boucher appears before him at the Murray County Jail.

“I don’t know for certain her criminal history, if there is one, and I don’t know how long they’ve been together (since the escape),” he said, “but I will probably move her up to Superior Court.”

Cochran said if he denies bond to Debbie Lynn Boucher after checking her background and discerning what she knew, she would appear in Superior Court on Wednesday for a bond hearing. The Associated Press reported that Richard Boucher told investigators his wife helped him and another inmate plan the escape, and they abandoned their car in North Carolina and walked to Murray County.

Richard Boucher had been doing odd jobs because he did not want to have a job where he had to supply identification, said Maj. John Gibson with the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office.