Prison camp escapee recaptured

Stock image, St. George News / Cedar City News

ST. GEORGE — After more than a week on the run, an inmate who walked away from a Pioche prison camp in Nevada New Year’s Day was recaptured and sent back to jail Friday thanks to an alert citizen.

Sony Perez, booking photo, date unknown | Photo courtesy of the Nevada Department of Corrections, St. George News
Sony Perez, booking photo, date unknown | Photo courtesy of the Nevada Department of Corrections, St. George News

Sony Perez, 34, was discovered missing from the Pioche Conservation Camp in Pioche, Nevada, Jan. 1 about 5 p.m., Nevada Department of Corrections Public Information Officer Brooke Keast said. He had been serving a 24-60-month sentence for grand larceny of a motor vehicle and had been incarcerated Oct. 21, 2014.

“He was found in an abandoned house in Pioche, so he didn’t get very far,” Keast said. “He will not have the opportunity to be in a camp again, because that’s really a good way to do your time. If you can get to the classification level where you can go to a camp and actually work, it makes time go by much faster. … It’s a much better way to do your sentence.”

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada was unavailable for comment, but its Facebook page simply stated: “CAPTURED!!! A huge thank you to the concerned and very observant citizen that made this capture possible!”

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Sheriff’s Office officials said they were tipped off to Perez’s location thanks to an area resident who knew about the escape. The unnamed resident saw Perez cross the road and circled back to confront him, calling deputies as he did.

The sheriff told the newspaper that Perez was suffering from hypothermia and was too tired and hungry to put up a fight. He was transported to the Grover C Dils Medical Center in Caliente, Nevada, for treatment, after which he will be booked into the Lincoln County Detention Center in Pioche then returned to the custody of the Nevada Department of Corrections.

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2 Comments

  • Mean Momma January 9, 2016 at 4:37 pm

    You really messed that up for yourself…. IDIOT!

  • 42214 January 9, 2016 at 5:39 pm

    Have fun in the big house Sonny. You can do butt tightening exercises for a few years.

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