Wife: Husband thought he no longer was a wanted man

After using a false name since escape 37 years ago, Cagley began using his real name

An Arizona woman says her husband believed he was in the clear after escaping from an Iowa prison 37 years ago and they were both shocked when authorities arrested him last week.

When police arrived at the couple’s door in Prescott Valley, Charles ‘Chuck’ Leroy Cagley had been using his own name for over a decade after being told an arrest warrant had been dismissed, Virginia Cagley said on Friday.

“We’re fighting this,” she said during a telephone interview. “He’s never been in any trouble since that time period.”

Prescott Valley police detectives arrested Cagley on Tuesday on an active felony extraditable warrant after the FBI notified the department that Cagley lived in Prescott Valley, the department said in a statement.

Virginia Cagley said an Iowa prison warden wrote a 2006 letter saying the 1981 warrant for Cagley’s arrest had been withdrawn and that Iowa no longer wanted him back in custody.

Virginia Cagley said an Iowa prison warden wrote a 2006 letter saying the 1981 warrant ... had been withdrawn and Iowa no longer wanted him back in custody.

Vietnam veteran

The warden wrote the letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs after Cagley, a Vietnam veteran, applied for benefits but was told there was a warrant out for him, she said.

Iowa Department of Corrections spokesman Cord Overton said department officials are consulting with the state attorney general’s office to determine the status of any warrants for Cagley and what prison time is left to be served.

“We are going to be consulting with our legal counsel to make sure whatever happens next is the most appropriate course of action,” Overton said. “We want to be sure we get it right.”

Overton said electronic records contain little information about Cagley’s escape from the Newton Correctional Facility or his current status and that latest information indicates an escape warrant was requested February 16, 1981.

Cagley had entered the prison system in 1978 to serve a sentence of 10 years, less time for good behaviour, on his conviction in Woodbury County, according to Overton and Cagley’s online profile on the department’s website.

The department’s statement said Cagley had been living in the area since 2004.