The Prisons Authority and the Israel Police were warned a month ago that convicted serial rapist Benny Sela might attempt to escape.

A police officer who escorts prisoners with the Shfela District police sent the letter to national police headquarters, the officer in charge of holding cells at the Nitzan prison, and the commander of the Eshel prison, where Sela was serving his sentence.

Shfela District police officers who specialize in escorting convicts brought Sela to the Rishon Letzion Magistrate's Court five times over the past six months. They used tactics employed for a "runner," or a convict with a high escape risk.

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However, an October 19 court visit led one officer to write a detailed letter regarding the chances of Sela trying to escape.

The officer wrote that at the end of the legal proceedings, the officers approached Sela with handcuffs and leg irons to restrain him for transfer. Sela opposed them, arguing that he had still not been given a copy of the transcript of the deliberations. The officers insisted and
had to use physical force to restrain Sela.

Later, Sela filed a complaint against what he considered excessive use of force against him. The police maintained that the level of force was reasonable given his resistance.

Chained, Sela was put in a patrol car, but he fainted during the journey. The police maintain that he faked it.

"Instead of pulling over and calling an ambulance, the police officers consulted a more senior officer, who told them not to stop but to drive directly to the Ramle police station and have a doctor check the prisoner," Superintendent Yifrah Duchovny, commander of the Shfela District police, said on Monday.

Sela was brought to the station. A doctor examined him, and sent him for more tests at Assaf Harofeh hospital. More policemen were called in to accompany Sela, and he was taken to hospital, where tests showed he was fine.

At the end of the day, a number of escort officers concluded that this had been yet another attempt by Sela to probe for ways to escape. The officers described his behavior as provocative, and this led them to prepare a letter warning of possible future attempts.

"We asked one of the officers, called Yehoshua, to record the incident. The officer described the events in the letter, and wrote that based on his experience, he believes Sela's behavior was a trick to probe for a breach through which to escape," Duchovny said.

The officers recommended that Sela's escort be stricter and that the special escort unit of the Prisons Authority, Nachshon, be deployed in these cases.

Police suspect escaped rapist used bike found in Sharon area
An intensive nationwide police manhunt for Sela entered its fourth day on Monday, as police said they suspect he is wearing gloves in order to avoid leaving fingerprint evidence.

Police on Monday examined a bicycle found in Ein Sarid in the Sharon area; there were no fingerprints on the bike but investigators believe Sela may have used it, wearing gloves or socks to avoid detection.

The rapist's escape from police custody Friday has sparked widespread fear across the greater Tel Aviv area and the Sharon region to the north.

More than 2,000 police have been deployed throughout the country in an effort to capture him, with detectives voicing concern that he may commit a violent crime if he remains at large much longer.

Under a plea bargain, Sela, 35, was convicted in December, 1999 of raping 14 women, and sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Preliminary investigations into Sela's escape indicate that police escorts may have failed to handcuff Sela when he was taken from Nitzan prison in Ramle, and that the order that he be taken from the prison to a Tel Aviv court was issued in error.

According to a report received by the police emergency hotline 100 on Sunday evening, a resident of Ein Sarid, who apparently met Sela in the past during business transactions, claimed to have seen him in the area. The resident

The man said he noticed a person biking through the fields in Ein Sarid. He insisted that he recognized the biker as being Sela, and when he attempted to approach the rapist, Sela fled.

Following these statements, hundreds of police and a helicopter arrived on the scene to try to capture Sela. Several bikes were located in the area and subsequently searched for fingerprints. Although no fingerprints were found, police noted that in the past, Sela would glove his hands to prevent leaving fingerprints at the scene of a rape.

Following these developments, the police are reducing the number of agents, several hundred who are working mostly undercover, in the Tel Aviv area, and focusing their search on Ein Sarid. Police are taking the Ein Sarid resident's statement seriously.

When the man was questioned again on Monday morning, he said he knew Sela from the days when the rapist lived in the nearby community of Kadema.

The police hotline has received hundreds of calls since Friday afternoon from people who claim to have spotted Sela. Detectives are being sent to investigate every lead.