Chance encounter nets fugitive By Emmett Meara NEWS Rockland Bureau LIBERTY - A chance street encounter on a San Diego Calif street led to the arrest of a Belfast man charged with a double murder here in December 1973 Chandler Littlefield was arrested on April The Belfast native indicted for the slayings of Joaquin and Florence Bettencourt is charged in California with pulling a revolver on a group of police officers Since the indictment in Maine Littlefield was arrested on two gun charges in Florida While awaiting extradition to Maine he escaped on Nov 27 of last year The next step in Littlefield’s legal travails is not certain California authorities were apparently unaware of an FBI fugitive warrant the Florida jailbreak or the Maine murder investigation Neither the San Diego police department nor area jail haa any record on Littlefield other than the California charges two counts of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer and burglary Littlefield arrested under the alias of Charles Ward was being held on a mere $2000 bail in California according to officials on Tuesday San Diego FBI Agent Daniel Morris reported that a routine fingerprint check when he was arrested traced Littlefield to Florida and Maine According to San Diego Police Lieutenant Edward Stevens the arrest took Clace on April 11 just efore midnight near several “gay” bars as Littlefield approached a group of a half dozen police officers some uniformed some in street clothes For unexplained reasons one officer told Littlefield to take his hands out of his pocket When he did police said he pulled a gun from his coat pocket No shots were fired in the arrest and Littlefield claims he did not aim the weapon at officers However he was charged with assaulting two officers along with a burglary charge connected with the weapon “It started with a casual street contact” said Lt Stevens If rtprmal California activities continue he will appear in Superior Court on Wednesday Maine authorities expect that Littlefield will be returned first to Florida before answering Maine charges