Regional News
Hospital escapee taken into custody
Published Saturday, July 24, 2010 at 06:17 PM
Wolsleben
A pursuit late Wednesday afternoon in eastern Colorado resulted in the arrest of a man who fled custody Saturday at a Nebraska hospital. The manhunt for 26 year old Jacob Wolsleben, also known as Jake Larson, led to Stratton, Colorado. Dawson County Sheriff Gary Reiber says his office was notified that the subject had been identified around 5:15 p.m. He said Wolsleben had returned to the service station where he had been on a previous occasion and the attendant recognized him and notifed the Kit Carson County Sheriff's Office. The subject then fled from the Kit Carson deputies and was apprehended in the next county over by the same deputies.

Early Wednesday, the suspect was identified by motel staff in Stratton, Colorado, where he checked in using the name "Michael Larson". The suspect was apprehended in Lincoln County, Colorado. Sheriff Reiber says the suspect was driving a vehicle stolen from Ravenna, Nebraska at the time he was apprehended. The Buffalo County license plates of the Ford Expedition were recovered inside that vehicle which was bearing Colorado license plates.

Sheriff Reiber says the apprehension would not have occured without the help of scores of federal and state law enforcement agencies, the Canadian Border Patrol and a pursuit by Kit Carson County, Colorado Sheriff's Deputies that resulted in the individual being taken into custody. Reiber praised the cooperation he received from the law enforcement agencies and was thankful that no one was injured in anything that occured from the time Wolslseben fled the hospital to the time he was apprehended in Colorado.

Reiber also says with the assistance of Verizon Wireless, the suspect was tracked Tuesday by his use of cell phones from I-25 near Colorado Springs, Colorado, north on I-25 into Wyoming to just north of Cheyenne, Wyoming, returning to Colorado. Wolsleben escaped a Lexington hospital on Saturday and took off in his girlfriend's pickup. Sheriff Reiber says the truck was abandoned in Bonesteel, S.D., and another truck was stolen there. That truck was abandoned in Ravenna, and an SUV was reported stolen. Wolsleben was being held on several charges out of Buffalo, Dawson and Lincoln counties, including burglary and writing bad checks. Reiber says if the suspect waives extradition, he will be returned to Nebraska. Reiber says if he doesn't waive extradition, a Governor's Warrant will be sought to bring him back to Dawson County to answer the original charges and additional charges including escape and other charges in Nebraska and South Dakota.

=0=


© 2010 The Nebraska Rural Radio Association. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Nebraska Headlines from AP
KTIC Classifieds ROS_KTIC_MARKETS_ALL KTIC Tri County Ag Service ROS_KTIC_MARKETS_ALL Syngenta Three Q's KTIC Great Nebraska Tractor Ride