Alaskan Manhunt Turns Up Peeping Tom

Alaskan State troopers and federal marshals are touting the capture of an escaped convict who got national attention when he wired an apartment building so he could peep the sex lives of its tenants with video recorders.

Video man Lynn Eugene Lacey has been arrested about 80 miles north of Anchorage, police confirmed. Lacey had been the landlord of a four-unit apartment in Wasilla, a town near Anchorage that police said is home to merchants, commuters, drug growers and "deadbeats."

Lacey, according to police, supervised the construction of the apartment building, a converted Quonset hut, and created numerous hiding places where he could watch the activities of the tenants.

"He did that with the intention of watching sex acts," police said. "He was semi-technical. He had video cameras set up and would photograph his victims."

Except Lacey got caught. One victim and her husband one night had turned off the light in the bathroom and noticed a light behind the mirror, according to police. A tip-off that there was a two-way mirror. From there it went into more investigation and eventually search warrants and arrests.

Lacey was convicted of burglary and being a Peeping Tom. He was sentenced to eight years in prison. But, in September 1998, a year into his term, Lacey escaped from a minimum-security prison. The prison does not have fences to keep prisoners inside.

"On the day of his escape he was told he would go to Arizona, where we have a contract with a private facility," police said. "He obviously didn't want to be there and basically just walked away from the institution."

About two months ago, authorities heard reports that Lacey was staying in a cabin in an area near Talkeetna. A state trooper and a U.S. marshal staked out the cabin and saw Lacey pull up. Lacey took off and fled into the cabin, then decided to bolt out of the cabin and make a run for it whereupon police cuffed him.

Lacey was charged with escaping from a prison.