Escaped inmate back behind bars after high-speed chase near Hamer

ARCO – A man who escaped from the Butte County Jail Monday morning is back in custody.

In a news release from the Butte County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Dave Hansen says Jeramie Rodriguez, who was arrested on Sunday evening and charged with being in possession of a stolen vehicle, escaped from the jail’s recreation area just after 10 a.m.

Rodriguez “was able to flee from the facility through a damaged portion of the chain link fence surrounding the inmate recreation area,” the news release says.

The inmate reportedly found a parked vehicle nearby with the keys inside. He took off and the owner reported it to the sheriff’s office.

Law enforcement quickly determined its location with the help of the vehicle’s onboard GPS. Idaho State Police troopers and deputies with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office later spotted the vehicle and tried to pull it over.

“Rodriguez refused to stop and a vehicle pursuit ensued,” Hansen writes in the news release.

Jennifer Fullmer with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office confirms they found Rodriguez on the Old Butte Highway near Hamer. Just before noon, they deployed a tire deflation device and successfully deflated two tires on the vehicle Rodriguez was driving, which brought it to a halt.

Around 11:45 Monday morning, West Jefferson School District 253 implemented a shelter-in-place procedure as a precautionary measure. In an email to parents, Superintendent Shane Williams explained it was in response to a report from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office that there was a “situation involving an escaped inmate and a vehicle pursuit in the region.”

Fullmer confirmed to EastIdahoNews.com that the school district was responding to the incident involving Rodriguez. Normal activities resumed once the issue was resolved.

Rodriguez is back in custody at the Butte County Jail and additional charges are pending.

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