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 could face a mandatory sentence of 40 years without parole under the state's career criminal law, said Kristin Riggin, spokeswoman for county prosecutors.
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 in Port Charlotte that evening, 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 high-speed chase.
Sine's capture came shortly after his family had contacted prosecutors, saying Sine wanted to give himself up, said his brother, a Glen Burnie businessman who asked that his name not be used.
Sine had lived for two years in Port Charlotte, a quiet community on the Gulf of Mexico south of Tampa, and worked at odd jobs as a roofer and painter using the name Brian David Beam, the brother said. But he was tired of life on the run and wanted to visit the graves of his parents, who had died during his absence.
Early last week, the brother said, relatives contacted Deputy State's Attorney Gerald K. Anders, who had prosecuted Sine in his first trial in 1977, to arrange to have Sine surrender to authorities. Police arrested Sine before an arrangement could be made.
Sine was convicted of rape and distribution of PCP in 1977 and sentenced to 20 years. He was paroled in 1985, then arrested again within a year. County police charged that Sine was manufacturing PCP-laden parsley and oregano flakes that were being sold in Mountain Dew cans and small vanilla extract bottles.
He was convicted on drug charges in 1987 and sent back to jail, this time for 10 years.
In 1991, he was out of jail again and soon became the focus of a drug investigation by county police and U.S. postal inspectors. He was arrested in 1992 and charged with 12 counts of distributing drugs through the mail. Postal inspectors raided his home and discovered large sums of cash and drug paraphernalia.
Sine pleaded guilty to the drug distribution charges in 1993 and was sentenced to 10 years. He was paroled in 1997 and quickly arrested again on felony drug charges. His failure to appear for the pretrial conference in May 1997 triggered the warrant that led to his arrest.
Pub Date: 3/09/99