FBI, Nevada, five other states seek to prosecute escapee

     Associated Press
      SALT LAKE CITY -- Keith Lamar Shepherd's 4 1/2-month crime spree is at an end, but just where the two-time Utah State Prison escapee ends up next is anyone's guess.
      Shepherd, being held Wednesday in the Bernalillo County (N.M.) Detention Center in Albuquerque, has become the prize in a jurisdictional struggle among Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Wyoming and Colorado -- and the FBI.
      Shepherd escaped from Utah's Gunnison Correctional Facility in November. Authorities say that while he was on the run, his visited Southern California's Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm, and then allegedly embarked on a six-state string of crimes including rape and holdups.
      Shepherd was released Monday from an Albuquerque hospital, where he was treated for wounds he suffered when an officer shot him in the face.
      The FBI wants to prosecute Shepherd for as many as five bank robberies, which are federal crimes.
      Shepherd was arraigned Tuesday in Metropolitan Court in Albuquerque on charges of attempted armed robbery, kidnapping, aggravated assault and possessing and receiving a stolen firearm. He was bound over to face the charges in District Court.
      Shepherd was finally caught in what police said was an attempted robbery at an Albuquerque bank last Friday. He was shot when a police officer said he spotted Shepherd pulling on a ski mask and brandishing a pistol. A shootout ensued, wounding Shepherd and a hostage.
      Shepherd has yet to be charged with the federal crime of bank robbery. However, the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Mexico reportedly is planning to take the case before a grand jury.
      "(Shepherd) has a long road ahead," said Ronald Dick, Albuquerque FBI assistant special agent-in-charge.
      Dick said the most likely route the case will take is for Shepherd to first face the New Mexico charges, then the federal charges, then charges from the individual states.
      Two investigators with the Cheyenne, Wyo., Police Department were in Albuquerque interviewing Shepherd on Wednesday. A detainer for Shepherd has been filed and charges are pending in the rape of a teen-age girl during the robbery of a Cheyenne Baskin-Robbins store, said Cheyenne Police Lt. Marty Luna.
      While in California, Shepherd, 37, was riding a bicycle when he failed to stop at a light and was pulled over by a police officer, he told Utah authorities.
      In Nevada, Lyon County Sheriff Sid Smith said Shepherd is considered a suspect in an armed robbery at a Fernley truck stop in early January.
      But Nevada officials will go to Albuquerque to question him only if present investigations determine Shepherd was in Nevada at the time of the armed robbery, Smith said.
      Shepherd is thought to have arrived in Albuquerque in mid-January. Police suspect he robbed three banks there.