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

DATE: THURSDAY, April 27, 1995                   TAG: 9504270082
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA                                LENGTH: Short

CONVICT'S ESCAPE TRY SHORT-LIVED

Frederick Keith Singleton didn't get far when he tried to escape from the federal courthouse, but his jailbreak did make history.

U.S. marshals were about to fasten handcuffs on Singleton ``when he bolted'' from a third-floor courtroom at the heavily guarded U.S. District Courthouse, Deputy Court Clerk John Mahoney said.

Monday's escape attempt was ``the first one anyone can remember,'' at the courthouse, said Bob Collins, a supervisor with the Marshals Service.

Singleton made it down a hallway and three flights of stairs with his would-be jailers in pursuit, but didn't get past the armed marshals at the courthouse door.

Already a convicted felon, Singleton had pleaded innocent to carjacking and weapons charges before U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton. The 23-year-old from Fort Washington, Md., now will be charged with escape, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Chestnut.

by CNB