A man who escaped from a Florida work release center in 1979 while serving a sentence for armed robbery has been captured in Missouri, authorities said Monday.

Oscar Eugene Richardson, 61, was arrested Saturday in Ridgedale, Missouri, as a result of information received through a police hot line, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the state Department of Corrections said. He is the first fugitive captured as part of the Florida “12 Days of Fugitives” campaign.

Richardson escaped from the Kissimmee Work Release center in March 1979 after serving less than two years of his 10-year sentence, police said.

He had robbed a Tampa, Florida, drugstore in January 1977, holding two employees at gunpoint as he demanded money from the store’s safe. Two months later he robbed a convenience store in Tampa, holding the clerk at gunpoint and demanding she fill a bag with money, authorities said. He fled but was apprehended minutes later.

At the time of his arrest Saturday, Richardson was living under the alias Eugene Ward and using a false Social Security number, officials said. Police believe he had been living in the same area of Missouri for many years. He was arrested by a U.S. Marshals Service task force.

(Source: CNN)