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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 4, 1993                   TAG: 9304040184
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.VA.                                LENGTH: Short

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FUGITIVE ARRESTED IN W.VA. BAR

A fugitive accused of a string of crimes, including three sexual assaults, in the 11 days since he walked away from prison was arrested Saturday night at a bar, police said.

Randy Eugene McBee, 38, of Berkeley Springs, was arrested by state police at a bar in Martinsburg, about 19 miles southeast of Berkeley Springs, said Sgt. Greg Stevens of the Martinsburg detachment.

McBee, 38, was being sought by authorities in three states.

According to police, McBee, who was serving a sentence for burglary, held an elderly couple hostage for 14 hours Saturday. He broke into their home, raped the 79-year-old woman and robbed them before fleeing in their car, said state police Sgt. Larry Bradley. Police wouldn't say what was taken from the couple.

McBee had evaded authorities in Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland since walking away from a Church Hill, Md., work-release center March 23.

McBee is accused of holding two Berkeley Springs men hostage for six hours Wednesday before stealing one of their cars.

He also is suspected of sexually assaulting a woman at her home near Berkeley Springs on Thursday and taking her car and weapons afterward.

Police suspect McBee also sexually assaulted a woman in Church Hill the day of his escape, took two guns and ammunition from a house and stole a car.

- Associated Press

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