TACOMA, WA – Police in Washington searching for a man wanted on escape from community custody on January 5th and were able to take him into custody. Officers reported the man with the warrant, who ran upon sight of law enforcement, was also a convicted felon…twenty times over.
Instead of being remanded into custody, he was assigned a $5,000 bail.
The Special Investigations Unit of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office worked with the Department of Corrections to seek out a violent felony offender who had an outstanding warrant for escape.
The law enforcement team was able to track the man down, who was not identified, to the location of the 5900 block of Portland Avenue E in Tacoma. Police allege when the suspect saw deputies, he immediately started running in an attempt to evade being arrested.
One of the deputies who was pursuing the suspect on foot was able to grab hold of a jacket they described as “puffy,” but he was able to get his arms free of the garment and continue to flee on foot.
Unfortunately for the suspect, the deputies were faster than he thought and they were able to grab hold of him, and after a brief struggle, the law enforcement officers were able to take him into custody without further incident.
After the suspect was taken into custody, a deputy picked up the suspect’s jacket and noted it was “unusually heavy.” When the deputies searched the jacket incident to arrest, they located a gun and drugs inside. On Facebook, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office wrote:
“In one of the pockets, the deputy found a loaded pistol with a round in the chamber. The suspect denied that the jacket was his; however, deputies located his social security card and debit card in the jacket.”
Along with the gun and the suspect’s personal identification information, they also located $400 in cash and just under five grams of methamphetamine. Instead of taking some type of self-responsibility, the suspect instead began asking deputies to lie for him and get rid of the gun for fear he would get a life sentence for being armed.
Much to the man’s dismay, the law enforcement officers dealing with him were not liars and took him into custody along with the other charges. After prosecutors reviewed the body camera footage, they filed charges on him for being in unlawful possession of a firearm in the first degree as well as obstructing an officer.
According to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, the suspect has been convicted twenty times of various felonies before this latest arrest. The Sheriff’s Office reported:
“The suspect has 20 felony convictions, including: possession of stolen property, theft, eluding, possession of a stolen vehicle, possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, unlawful possession of a firearm and residential burglary. He also has 9 gross misdemeanor convictions and has had 15 cases where bench warrants were issued.”
When the suspect appeared in front of a judge he must have been extremely concerned that he would not receive bail, and if he did, it would be something outrageous. After all, with 29 different criminal convictions on his record and a current escape warrant, commonsense would stipulate there would be no bail or at least a high one if ordered.
The suspect must have been elated that commonsense did not prevail in this case as the judge assigned only $5,000 bail. Meaning, in most cases, the suspect would only have to present $500 and something worth $5,000 for him to be released only to run again.
While the suspect thought the low bond, which his girlfriend had already paid, meant for sure he was going to be released, that hope was short-lived as the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office reported on January 11th he had also been charged with motor vehicle theft. The Sheriff’s Office reported the new charge stemmed from an unrelated incident in Puyallup in December of 2022.
The suspect appeared in front of the judge again to be arraigned on the new motor vehicle theft charge and received a bail of $25,000. If he can post the new bail, the Department of Corrections will be notified and they will respond to take custody of him for the escape warrant.
Want to make sure you never miss a story from Law Enforcement Today? With so much “stuff” happening in the world on social media, it’s easy for things to get lost.
