A felon who escaped from a work release center is accused of a gunpoint carjacking and armed bank robbery Friday in Spokane. 

Brian E. Gorder, 32, already is well known to police. In 2007, he led officers and a “Cops” camera crew on a high-speed chase that saw a police cruiser catch fire.

Now Gorder is due in Superior Court today on charges related to an alleged crime spree that ended with his arrest by U.S. marshals on Saturday. Gorder is believed to have stolen a 2008 Buick Lucerene at gunpoint Thursday in the K-Mart parking lot on North Division, then robbed a bank and shoplifted from several stores.

U.S marshals arrested his girlfriend, Meagen P. Meyers, 29, that day after she escaped from the Eleanor Chase House on April 29, then learned on Friday Gorder was allegedly responsible for the carjacking.

Gorder also was identified as a suspect in an armed robbery Friday at Washington Trust Bank, 3810 N. Maple, in which the stolen Lucerene was used as the getaway vehicle.

Federal agents spotted Gorder driving southbound on Division near the Northtown Mall at 12:45 a.m., but Gorder fled a traffic stop.

A Spokane police K-9, Duke, found him hiding in a maple tree. Gorder’s past convictions include theft of a motor vehicle, attempting to elude, residential burglary, obstructing police and possession of a controlled substance.

He was sentenced to 37 months in prison for charges related to the September 2007 “Cops” chase and was at the Brownstone Work Release Center when he allegedly absconded on Tuesday.

In 2004, Gorder was involved in a chase that included an officer firing rounds at his vehicle’s tires. He told the newspaper he needed help overcoming his addiction to methamphetamine.

“I’m not a bad person,” he said at the time. “The issue is I have a drug problem. Once I get going on this stuff, I do things I normally wouldn’t do.”

Read the story from January 2004 here.

A Maryland fugitive described by local police as a “one-man crime wave” is accused of assaulting a nurse at Deaconess Medical Center Wednesday night.

Ricky W. Everett, 33, appeared in Superior Court this afternoon on a third-degree assault charge after hospital staff and jails deputies said Everett dug his fingernails into a nurse’s right hand, causing a cut and red marks, according to court documents. The nurse was trying to put a breathing mask on Everett when he became uncooperative about 9:40 p.m., documents allege.

Everett’s bail was set at $200,000 today. That’s in addition to $150,000 bond set Wednesday for a theft of a motor vehicle charge.

Everett, who has 30 felony convictions in six states, was arrested Tuesday after police said he paid for a Honda Accord with a bad check. Police on Wedensday searched a Queen Avenue home (pictured above) where he’d been staying.

Everett left federal prison in March after serving time for impersonating a U.S. marshal in Oregon. In court documents, federal prosecutors described Everett’s mental state as “a puzzle, to say the least.”

Spokane detectives say he carries a Taser and has told citizens he’s a police officer.

Anyone who has had contact with Everett or has accepted a check from Ricky’s PI Service is asked to call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.

Everett’s probation officer and a Portland police detective “are glad he’s gone because he caused a lot of trouble,” said Deputy Prosecutor George Gagnon at Everett’s first Superior Court appearance on Wednesday.

Read my story: ‘One-man crime wave’ with 30 felonies hit Spokane