Captured Escapee Again Faces Robbery Charge

Austin Mark Fulton, recaptured this week after escaping from the Bonner County jail, again faces robbery charges in Kootenai County.

Prosecutors have refiled four robbery charges against Fulton in connection with a string of Kootenai County armed robberies three years ago.

A $250,000 arrest warrant charging Fulton with those robberies was issued on June 2, Prosecutor Bill Douglas said Thursday.

Fulton, 25, is being held on a $100,000 bond in the Bonner County Jail on charges of felony escape and armed robbery. Bonner County prosecutors say Fulton broke out of the Bonner County Jail last Friday, slipping through an open fire door and under an unfinished perimeter fence.

Deputies found Fulton hiding in the bushes near a Ponderay mobile home Tuesday morning and arrested him.

Fulton was brought to Idaho earlier this year from Colorado to face robbery charges in connection with a string of North Idaho heists. Fulton’s brother and a lifelong friend of the brother already have been convicted for their parts in the robberies of an area bowling alley, pizza parlor and department stores.

First District Judge Gary Haman dismissed armed robbery charges against Fulton in Kootenai County last month, ruling that prosecutors failed to act quickly enough to prosecute him.

Authorities then transferred Fulton to Bonner County to face an armed robbery charge there.

Fulton was brought to Idaho in February on an interstate agreement with Colorado, where he has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for two aggravated robbery convictions.