Fugitive hid for 48 yrs.

A boat repairman well known in his small Connecticut town was exposed this week as a robbery convict who escaped 48 years ago from a prison work camp in Georgia.

Robert Stackowitz’s application for Social Security played a role in his capture, authorities said.

Stackowitz, 71, was arrested Monday by Connecticut state troopers and US marshals at his home in Sherman. He had been serving a 17-year sentence for robbery in August 1968 when he escaped from the infirmary at a prison work camp in Carrollton, Ga. He was charged with robbery in 1966, according to officials.

A state trooper who works in Sherman, Michael Saraceno, said Stackowitz was cooperative when law enforcement showed up at his house at about 8 a.m. Monday.

“It’s been so long that I think he reached a point in his head where he thought they would never find him,” Saraceno said.

Stackowitz, who went by the alias Robert Gordon, lived alone and ran a boat-repair business out of his home near Candlewood Lake. Stackowitz was detained Tuesday on $75,000 bail. He’s expected to be sent back to Georgia in the coming weeks.