United States Border Patrol has recaptured an escaped prisoner who walked away from a minimum security facility in California’s Sierra Nevada foothills in December 2010.
According to the Examiner, Secundino Cornejo, 44, was arrested by Border Patrol agents on April 3 and returned to their custody. He had reportedly escaped from the Vallecito Conservation Camp in Calaveras County, which houses inmates who work on firefighting teams and perform fire suppression and flood control work in the area.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation states that after his capture, Cornejo was returned to the Sierra Conservation Center, a secure prison facility in Jamestown.
At the time of his arrest, Cornejo was reportedly serving a four-year sentence for transporting methamphetamine. He was scheduled to be released in September of 2013 but now faces escape charges in addition to serving the remainder of his sentence. Under California’s Health and Safety Code 11377 HS, possession of methamphetamines is usually a misdemeanor that carries a fine of up to one year in county jail and/or a fine of up to $1,000.
This past February, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department accidentally released murder suspect Steven Lawrence Wright, 37, who was erroneously released because of a five-day contempt of court charge which had expired. Wright was taken back into custody nine days after his release just outside of Las Vegas.
Photo: file
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