Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Dept. detectives arrested a UCSB biological sciences technician last Friday on suspicions that he was actually a prisoner who escaped 36 years ago from a Michigan correctional facility.
Early last week the Sheriff’s Dept. Criminal Investigation Division received an anonymous tip regarding a subject who had escaped from G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility in June 1972. According to Sheriff’s Dept. spokesman Sgt. Alex Tipolt, the caller said the 61-year-old Roger Crona had allegedly moved to the Goleta area several years ago and assumed the name Jason Von Straussenburg.
Paul Desruisseaux, UCSB associate vice chancellor for public affairs, said that he was unsure of Von Straussenburg’s history and of his specific duties on campus, but did confirm that he was employed at the university.
“He was a developmental technician in biological sciences,” Desruisseaux said. “It’s a staff position. I don’t know exactly what he did.”
According to the Michigan Dept. of Corrections Web site, Crona was one of their most wanted escapees and was originally jailed — three and a half decades ago — for altered registration, altered license plates and possession of a forged registration. Though Crona was originally convicted and sentenced to a minimum of two years and six months in jail, he had allegedly escaped Michigan prison only three months into his sentence, according to the Dept. of Corrections Web site.
Tipolt said that the anonymous tip was key in tracking Von Straussenburg down, but admitted that he did not know how the alleged escapee had managed to avoid detection for so long.
“It’s anybody’s guess,” Tipolt said. “We didn’t talk to him. We don’t know how he eluded everybody.”
Von Straussenburg was arrested without incident after a forensic match was found between him and the identity of Crona, Tipolt said. Though Von Straussenburg is currently booked into Santa Barbara County Jail, Tipolt said it is up to the Michigan corrections system to retry him.
“He’s still in custody in our jail and he’s awaiting extradition,” Tipolt said. “Michigan Dept. of Corrections has 10 days to come pick him up.”
Completely ridiculous and what a waste of resources….
I get sick when I think of the wasted resources that went into this "catch". A petty crime over three decades old coming back to ruin someone who was gainfully employed and respected in their job. I am so glad that this dangerous criminal was taken off the streets…now I can walk around IV and Santa Barbara at night again…except for all the rapists and muggers and drunk drivers roaming free…
He has been working in the Biology Department for more then 15 years! He is nice, helpful, does his work, and now "Oh No! he’s evil" How can a person who fudged registration be such a criminal mastermind??? I agree with bioslug. Total waste of resources to take a hardworking person away.
Jason is no Kathleen SoliahJason has worked for the Biology Department at UCSB, fixing biological equipment, for many, many years. During that time he’s been guilty of telling some bad jokes, but other than that he’s been a qualified and honest employee and a really sweet guy. I’m much more worried about mentally disturbed individuals with access to guns, than someone who made a mistake (he was convicted for altering vehicle registration plates and possession of a forged vehicle registration) almost 40 years ago, but since then has been an honest, tax paying, home owning citizen. If Jason is one… Read more »
Jason is a good guy!
The real crime here is that someone bothered to tip the police about this. Jason has been extremely helpful to me on my projects over the years. He is a kind, generous, and hard working person – whitty, smart, ingenuitive to name just a few of his virtues. His reputation should not be tarnished for something that happened so long ago. He has clearly put his life on the right track since then.
how heartbreaking
This is absolute garbage. Jason (Roger.. or whatever he wants to call himself) is a GREAT person. He’s honest, and genuine, and a sweet guy underneath it all. Everybody who’s met him would agree. For my part, I’ll be following this story very carefully, and making sure I do what I can to help Jason and let him know that he’s not alone. We all make mistakes. He obviously learned his lesson, if he stayed out of trouble all these years since his escape. Bring him home!
why are you guys still calling him jason
his name is roger !
Sorry folks, the fact remains that he is an escaped fugitive and has been for some time. Whether or not his original sentence was justified is not the issue: he was convicted and sentenced and subsequently escaped and lived as a fugitive for 30 years. It also doesn’t matter that he lived a good life during those 30 years; he was a fugitive, of course he wasn’t going to try to attract a lot of attention toward himself. The fact that he has lived a lawful life since his escape, in and of itself, is not sufficient to say he… Read more »