A wanted Florida sex offender who fled into the Maine woods and got lost said he had to have several toes amputated due to frostbite because authorities were slow in apprehending him.

Harvey Taylor, 48, spent at least three nights in the snowy woods in Mattawamkeag after running from a Penobscot County Sheriff's detective a few weeks ago.

Taylor now threatens to sue the detective.

"If he had done his job properly I wouldn't be in the condition that I'm in right now," Taylor told the Bangor Daily News in a telephone interview Tuesday from his room at St. Joseph Hospital. "I would have been in jail that very same day."

Taylor said he lost toes on his left foot.

A hospital spokesman declined to comment on his condition.

Chief Deputy Glenn Ross of the sheriff's office said the complaining convict is wanted in Brevard County, Fla., for probation violations linked to his convictions for sexual offenses involving a minor child.

Detective Timothy Jameson was assigned the case after authorities learned that Taylor, who had been living in Maine under an alias, was reported in Mattawamkeag.

Jameson met there with Taylor on Feb. 6. Taylor was arrested by police and wardens Feb. 11 after his ordeal in the woods.

Taylor said he had no idea Jameson was a detective.

"I thought he was a nut," Taylor said. "When he opened his coat a little bit I took for granted he was trying to show me, 'Hey, I got a gun.' I took off running and he chased me until I got to the side of the woods."

Ross said the detective opened his coat to show his badge, but Taylor refused to identify himself and jumped into a car driven by another person and left.

The detective called for assistance and pursued the vehicle in his cruiser before Taylor jumped out of the car and ran into the woods, Ross said.

Jameson followed Taylor's tracks a few hundred yards into the woods, but could not find Taylor. Ross said police patrolled the area and sent out an alert to other agencies.

Taylor said he got lost and spent three nights in the woods where snow was knee and hip deep. An ice storm hit the first night and it later snowed, he said.

Taylor said he followed a bird out of the woods, then went to a Mattawamkeag residence, where police and wardens came the following day.

"I didn't run. I couldn't," said Taylor.

Quite funny, but all I have to say is, unfuckingbelievable...

What a bunch of crap that they even waist the space and give it any credibility in the paper.........