BAY MINETTE — For the second time this year, Bay Minette Police officer Andrew Bitetti has been named Officer of the Month.
Bitetti, who has been with the department for three years, single-handedly apprehended a fugitive Nov. 7.
"We had received a BOLO — be on the lookout — for Alvin Lavon Sanders, who had escaped from a Mobile prison work-release," Bitetti said. "We were told he might be in our area."
The officer found that to be true while on routine patrol the evening of Nov. 7.
"I was patrolling an area where we had received numerous prowler calls and had experienced a high volume of burglaries and vehicle break-ins," he said.
Bitetti said he noticed two men wearing dark clothing walking in the area at approximately 11 p.m.
"I approached them and asked for ID. Sanders said he did not have any, and gave me the name of Bernard Sanders. When I ran the social security number he gave me, it came back as Alvin Sanders."
Bitetti said he tried to find a photo in the National Crime Information Center database, but was unable to obtain one.
"The way he was acting led me to believe he was lying," he said. Finally Bitetti located a photo on the Mobile County Sheriff's Office Web site and confirmed the identity of Alvin Sanders.
Sanders was wanted on warrants for escape for the Mobile County Sheriff's Office and the Department of Corrections.
"When I confronted him, he said 'You got me, take me to jail,' so that's what I did," Bitetti said.
In addition to the outstanding warrants, the Bay Minette Police Department charged Sanders with giving a false name to a law enforcement officer to elude capture.
