Caught South of the Border

An armed robber who eluded a massive manhunt in Sag Harbor Village last month after running from his victim’s house was picked up on March 10, almost 2,500 miles away on the Mexican border. U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped him, 28 days after the robbery, as he tried to re-enter the country from Tijuana.

Ali S. Wisdom, 37, was arraigned on Friday in Southampton Town Justice Court on two violent B felony charges: armed robbery and use of a firearm while committing a crime. Justice Andrea Schiavoni set bail at $200,000 cash. He was being held at the Suffolk County jail as of yesterday.

Under the state penal law, conviction on these two charges carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two consecutive five-year terms in state prison. Mr. Wisdom faces two other felony charges, reckless endangerment and criminal mischief, as well as misdemeanor menacing.

On Feb. 10, according to Sag Harbor police, Mr. Wisdom, who goes by the alias Columbo, was in the West Hillside Drive residence of a cousin, just off Route 114, when the holdup occurred. Police have not said what was taken, but the top charge means by definition that property was forcibly stolen.

It is alleged that Mr. Wisdom pointed a gun at his cousin’s head in the course of the robbery, then fired two shots into a television. The cousin ran out of the house. Mr. Wisdom fired one more shot through a window, according to police, before escaping on foot.

At the time, Sag Harbor Village had just one officer on patrol. Staffing has been a contentious issue there over the last few years between Chief Thomas Fabiano and Mayor Brian Gilbride. As it happened, the chief and the mayor were both at a village board meeting when the incident took place. The chief excused himself and immediately began coordinating a search for the robber.

A Suffolk County helicopter was brought in, as was the county’s K-9 unit, along with officers from East Hampton Town and Village Police Departments, but no trace of the man was found. Mr. Wisdom eventually wound up south of the border.

Border patrol agents held him for extradition, and officers of the Suffolk County Police Fugitive Squad flew to California to bring him back to his home state. Born in New York City, Mr. Wisdom has recently made Sag Harbor his home, according to the police.

Sag Harbor police met him at Kennedy Airport and took him on the long drive back to their Division Street headquarters. He was held there overnight before being arraigned in the morning.