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SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- The Utah State Prison escapee caught after 22 years on the run was known among his friends as a weaver of elaborate tall tales.
Lyndal Ritterbush told friends he was a Vietnam war pilot, an entrepreneur with South African business dealings and that he'd inherited a vast Montana estate.
But lawyers say he told one truth: The 62-year-old told his common-law wife that police might come looking for him.
Ritterbush was arrested in Oregon a week ago for investigation of an alleged identity theft. He was living there under his brother-in-law's name.
He fled Utah in 1985, escaping from prison while on a work detail.
A convicted sex offender Ritterbush had been serving prison term of five years to life.
Authorities will extradite him to Utah after Oregon charges are complete.
------ Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
