Flathead fugitive arrested in Alabama

A Montana man wanted in Flathead County for probation violation and bail jumping was arrested Monday while applying for work at the Alabama State Fair.

Preston Edward Goff Jr., 58, was taken into custody by Pelham, Ala., police after they received a tip that a fugitive was in town looking for a job.

Goff fled when officers arrived, but was captured Monday afternoon following a three-hour manhunt, according to Pelham Police Chief Edgar Thomas.

Goff had been on the run since Aug. 7, when he failed to show up for a probation revocation hearing in Flathead County District Court and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest.

A second warrant was issued after the Flathead County Attorney's Office filed felony bail-jumping charges.

Convicted of armed robbery in 1987, Goff was sentenced to serve 20 years at Montana State Prison. He was given an additional 10 years for using a firearm in commission of the crime and was designated a persistent felony offender.

According to court documents, Goff was charged with robbery and aggravated kidnapping after brandishing a gun at two clerks of a Somers hotel on May 30, 1987.

Goff demanded money, forced the clerks into a back office and then fled with an undisclosed amount of cash in a bag. To escape, Goff locked himself in the trunk of his girlfriend's car. Goff's girlfriend, however, was soon arrested and her car towed to the Flathead County Sheriff's Office parking lot - with Goff still locked inside.

Goff reportedly freed himself from the trunk and, at gunpoint, forced another man in the parking lot to drive him away from Kalispell. He later was arrested by deputies while he was looking for another way out of the area.

In exchange for his guilty plea to robbery, prosecutors dropped the aggravated kidnapping charge against Goff.

Goff, who was paroled from Montana State Prison in 1992, escaped from the Missoula pre-release center in November that year and from the Great Falls pre-release center in January 1997. He was recaptured both times.

Goff eventually was released to serve the probation portion of his sentence, but officials filed a petition to revoke that probation in December 2007, only one month after his probation began.

Prosecutors allege Goff wrote bad checks, failed to report to his probation officer and changed his residence without permission. He denied those allegations in May, but left town prior to an August revocation hearing that already had been delayed twice.

Goff also has served time in North Carolina and Florida prisons for theft, armed robbery, assault on a police officer, forgery and escape. He is being held in the Pelham, Ala., city jail pending extradition to Montana.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com