Figure in Letterman plot one of two prison escapees

BUTTE – Authorities on Saturday combed an area southwest of the Montana State Prison for two inmates, including a man who was once accused of plotting to kidnap David Letterman’s son, who escaped in a truck while working at the prison’s ranch.

An extensive search between Deer Lodge and Anaconda turned up nothing late Saturday, although crews were expected to keep searching the area through the night and into today said Dan Hess, shift commander at the prison.

“We are planning (for today’s search) as we speak,” he said.

Kelly A. Frank, 45, and convicted burglar William J. Willcutt, 22, were assigned to a crew that moves irrigation pipe at the prison ranch, jail officials said.

A supervisor noticed Willcutt and a 1965 work truck were missing Friday afternoon, and the prison was locked down, a jail statement said. An inmate count showed Frank was also gone.

The missing truck had been assigned to Frank, the statement said.

Officers immediately began searching the area, and law enforcement agents and the Montana Highway Patrol were notified, the statement said. The half-ton spray truck was found off prison property around 5:30 p.m.

Department of Corrections spokesman Bob Anez declined to say where the truck was found, but said ground crews, a prison dog and a Highway Patrol helicopter were focusing their search Saturday south of Deer Lodge.

Frank was arrested in March 2005 on allegations that he had devised a plan to kidnap Letterman’s son, lied to investigators and overcharged Letterman for painting work at his ranch.

Prosecutors later dropped a charge of solicitation to kidnap, in exchange for guilty pleas on three other charges, including felony theft and misdemeanor obstruction.

Frank was sentenced to 10 years in prison for overcharging the talk show host.

Telephone and e-mail messages to Kim Krizzo-Emmet, Letterman’s publicist at CBS, were not immediately returned.

Anez said Willcutt had been living in a prison work dorm, while Frank had been housed inside the prison.

Willcutt is 6-foot-2 and weighs 210 pounds. He is a white man with a fair complexion and a stocky build. He has blue eyes and blond hair, a news release stated.

Frank is 6-foot-2 and weighs 185 pounds. He is white and has a medium complexion, medium build, brown hair and blue eyes, the release stated.