The Region - News from Dec. 2, 1986

A “compulsive rapist” sentenced to 116 years in prison was being sought after his escape from a San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy at a hospital last week, authorities said. Eric Patrick Martin, 31, of Oakland, escaped Thursday from a county hospital, sheriff’s spokesman Jim Bryant said. Martin was described as armed and dangerous, having taken a gun from the deputy he overpowered at the hospital, where he was taken when he feigned a stomach ache. He was being held as a robbery and auto theft suspect under a different name, and investigators only learned of his true identity after he fled. Martin escaped from Alameda County sheriff’s deputies in a nearly identical ruse Oct. 20, authorities said. “He is considered a compulsive rapist, preying on women in homes, clerks in convenience stores, cleaners, florists” and other situations where women are alone, sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Stodelle said.