The "Pied Piper of Severn," a convicted drug dealer on the run from Anne Arundel County police for two years, is in a Florida jail cell awaiting extradition to Maryland.

Joseph Harry Sine, 50, was arrested Friday after a high-speed chase, ending a two-year manhunt, Anne Arundel police said. Authorities had been looking for him since 1997 when he failed to appear for a status conference before a trial on drug charges.

Sine has been convicted three times on drug charges since 1977 and was nicknamed "Joe Flakes" or the "Pied Piper of Severn" because he is said to have introduced the hallucinogen PCP to the county in the late 1970s.

An informant told Anne Arundel County narcotics officers of Sine's whereabouts Thursday, police said. Charlotte County, Fla., police, acting on a request from Anne Arundel, went to Sine's home, but were unable to identify him from the photograph they were sent.

By the time Anne Arundel police transmitted another photograph, Sine had fled, authorities said. The next day, Charlotte County police spotted Sine and arrested him after a chase.

Pub Date: 3/09/99