Man sentenced for sex crime walked out of jail when deputy opened the door, report shows
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IDAHO FALLS — An Idaho Falls man who escaped from the Bonneville County Jail before running to Mexico is back in custody.
Elias Diego-Bradley, 20, is charged with felony escape following the Aug. 10 flight from the jail just one day after being sentenced for two felony counts of voyeurism. Diego-Bradley appeared in court Thursday following last month’s arrest by U.S. Marshals and Mexican law enforcement in Tijuana, Mexico.
Prior to sentencing, Judge Dane Watkins Jr. placed Diego-Bradley into the work detail program, according to court records. But due to a large number of inmates on the detail, Diego-Bradley has never actually been called out.
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Around 8 a.m. the morning of the escape, Diego-Bradley had not been called out of the dorm area for work detail but arrived with the crew anyway. Diego-Bradley got dressed with the rest of the detail. Minutes later, a deputy noted there was an extra inmate and yelled into the booking area to another deputy to take Diego-Bradley back to the dorm, according to court documents.
“Diego-Bradley tried to rush the door in what appears to be an effort to run, but the door had already closed,” a deputy writes in a report. “Diego-Bradley waited and went back to the door and tried pushing the button to get released out the door.”
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Around 8:10 that morning, Diego-Bradley went to the deputy in the booking area and said he had been left behind by the work detail. The deputy then opened the door for Diego-Bradley, who started walking towards the group in the work detail.
When the deputy closed the door, Diego-Bradley reportedly turned in another direction, took off his work detail vest and eventually started to run. Around 8:15 a.m., a deputy contacted the supervisor once he realized Diego-Bradley had just escaped from jail.
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Law enforcement was alerted through dispatch and they began looking for him.
It is not exactly clear what happened next or how Deigo-Bradley made it to Mexico. Sources tell EastIdahoNews.com Deigo-Bradley had family in the country.
Diego-Bradley was sentenced on Aug. 9, according to investigative reports. He remains held in the Bonneville County Jail and his preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 17.
Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Bryan Lovell says they’re always looking for ways to improve. Since the incident with Diego-Bradley, the Sheriff’s Office has been taking steps to do so.