Calif. Parole Jumper Tracked Down Via Facebook Page

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A man who absconded from parole in California 12 years ago has been arrested in northern Montana after police tracked him down through updates on his Facebook page.

Glacier County sheriff's Sgt. Tom Siefert tells the Independent Record that Robert Lewis Crose's page tipped off a fugitive task force that he was in the Cut Bank, Mont., area.

Some of the 47-year-old's posts mentioned snow and winning $600 playing Keno. When a friend asked where he was, he responded, "Cut Bank."

Police circulated pictures and a tip led to Crose's arrest Saturday at a casino.

Crose was convicted of making a terrorist threat and a gun violation for using a sawed-off shotgun to fend off an intruder at his Ventura, Calif., appliance store in 1996. He served less than a year in prison.

The Los Angeles Times reports Crose returned to prison for a parole violation and was paroled again in 1998.

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