Former art dealer faces charges in escape

PROVIDENCE - A former art dealer from Rhode Island who escaped from federal prison and made a stop in Connecticut will soon appear in federal court.

Rocco DeSimone faces new charges for escaping from a minimum-security prison camp in Fairton, N.J., on March 15.

He surrendered four days later to federal authorities in Providence.

He was scheduled to appear today in US District Court in Providence, where a judge will decide whether DeSimone should be sent back to New Jersey.

DeSimone's wife, Gail, has been charged with harboring an escaped prisoner.

Federal investigators allege that she called her husband on the day of his escape, flew to Philadelphia, and rented a car there.

The US Marshal's office said she picked up her husband, 55, and dropped him off in Putnam, Conn.

Rocco DeSimone, who had been a dealer in high-end art while in Johnston, R.I., was serving a sentence for tax evasion in a federal prison camp.