NOTE: Not an illegal alien story

Pahokee suspect gets out despite 41st arrest
By ROCHELLE E.B. GILKEN

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Alvin Lamont Walker's rap sheet includes arrests for three homicides, a rape, batteries, burglaries and assaults.

And yet, after his 41st arrest, Sunday, the longtime Pahokee criminal was released immediately on his own recognizance, without having to post bail.


Walker, 57, who goes by the nickname "Cooter Pop," was charged with simple battery, for allegedly punching a fellow customer during an argument at a Pahokee liquor store. Judge Nelson Bailey allowed Walker to be released, according to the state attorney's office.

Bailey could not be reached for comment Monday.

Walker's criminal record reads like a broken record of dropped, dismissed or reduced charges. The whole community knows and fears him, said former Pahokee Police Chief Rafael Duran, now a corporal at the sheriff's office.

"He's basically a career criminal and has gotten away with a lot of things because people are afraid to talk," Duran said. "It's fear. It's absolute fear."

In 1977 Walker spent less than four years in state prison after being convicted of homicide-manslaughter by culpable negligence, according to state Department of Corrections records.

He was arrested in the 1994 slaying of 77-year-old Herman "Papa" Wilson, who was beaten to death in Wilson's home. In that case, Walker served three years on the lesser charge of manslaughter, after he provided jailhouse testimony in the murder trial of a drug dealer.

Walker was arrested again in October 2000, for allegedly killing Rev. Eulis Wright, an 89-year-old minister slain by a blow to the head. The state attorney's office dropped the case, saying there wasn't enough evidence.

In 2002 Pahokee cops were thrilled when he was convicted of threatening a shop owner, with a screwdriver. He was back out in less than two years.

Then there's 2004, when he was charged with sexual battery, burglary and false imprisonment, after a woman reported he broke into her house with a screwdriver and raped her repeatedly.

On the arrest report, the officer wrote, "Suspect is dangerous and will kill" law enforcement officers.

A month later, the charges were reduced to simple battery and he was sentenced to six months in jail, with credit for time served.

According to the state attorney's office, the woman recanted her story.

Sheriff's Lt. Ray Alonso, who is district commander overseeing Pahokee, said he met with the state attorney's office Monday morning and discussed the new battery case.

"Prosecutors assured me they would follow up on this case and make sure we have full cooperation with witnesses due to, in the past, that was the problem," Alonso said.

"They assured me they would follow through to make sure it doesn't slip through the cracks."

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