Next time, just pay the fare! (News story)

[TexasStooge]

From Yahoo! News:

MONTEREY PARK, Calif. (Court TV)— Loren Key may spend the rest of his life in prison because he refused to pay a train fare.

Key, 33, was arrested by Los Angeles County sheriffs on March 29 after he boarded a Metro Blue Line without paying. Key and three other fare delinquents were taken off the train in Long Beach.

He told police his name was Laron Anthony Thomas, but his identification card was "pretty bogus-looking," police said.

Once in custody, Key was fingerprinted and the prints showed that he was wanted on suspicion of shooting three people, including two Detroit police officers, in May 2002. He was sought by the FBI and had been profiled on the TV show "America's Most Wanted."

"He said he was just a working man who didn't have enough money for the fare that day," said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Scott Harper. "He never got angry, which was surprising given what we found out about him."

Key is accused of shooting the Detroit police officers after they responded to a report of a hostage-taking. Key allegedly got out of a car and shot them as well as the car's owner, a 25-year-old man, and stole the car. The victims all survived.

He is being held without bail.