No new charge for man on the lam for years

SANDUSKY, Ohio (AP) — A prosecutor says he won’t file new escape-related charges against a man who disappeared from an Ohio prison camp in 1959 while serving time for manslaughter and was found this year in Florida.

Frank Freshwaters could serve up to 20 years on his original charge, and Erie County Prosecutor Kevin Baxter says that allows for “sufficient penalty.” Baxter says he also had to consider legal limitations and whether evidence exists to prosecute the decades-old escape.

Investigators say Freshwaters was found living off Social Security benefits under an alias at a weathered trailer in rural Brevard County. The 79-year-old widower now awaits a parole board decision about possible release from an Ohio prison facility.

The Akron man was imprisoned in 1959 after hitting a man with a vehicle and violating probation.