Two separate incidents of individuals attempting to flee local authorities on foot occurred during September, according to police reports. A man fled from the Kenai Adult Probation Office after failing a drug test, and a woman escaped a Soldotna Police Department interview room and led police on a chase for more than an hour.
Justin C. Pelletier, 27, reported to the adult probation office on Sept. 19, as he was instructed to do after a felony theft conviction in mid-July. During the visit, Pelletier submitted a drug test, which he subsequently failed. Controlled substances were detected in his system, according to an affidavit filed by a Kenai police officer.
A probation officer advised the man he would be remanded to Wildwood Correctional Complex due to his failure. At that point, according to the affidavit, Pelletier stood up and ran out of the probation officer’s office, shutting the door as he left.
Grabbing Pelletier near the building’s entryway did little to stop the man; he pulled away from the probation officer. And upon exiting the mudroom doorway, Pelletier swung the door open with enough force to puncture a hole in the wall, according to the affidavit.
Following a short foot chase, another probation officer tackled the man, who now faces a second-degree escape charge, a class B felony.
The next day, the Kenai Police Department dealt with their own escapee.
Officer Derek Urban arrested Elainnah S.M. Lagoutaris, 23, for a DWI. The woman was handcuffed and placed in an interview room back at the Police Department. She left the interview room and proceeded to leave the Police Department. She managed to avoid contact with officers for more than an hour, according to an affidavit filed by Urban.
According to the affidavit, the interview room can only be locked from the outside, but it did not detail Lagoutaris’s escape.
Officers located the woman on Ski Hill Road, which is more than a mile-and-a-half from the Police Department. She told officers she was scared, and that she panicked and ran out of the building, according to the affidavit.
Lagoutaris has been charged with third-degree escape, a class C felony.
Jerzy Shedlock can be reached at jerzy.shedlock@peninsulaclarion.com.
Comments (2)
Add commentThis is total B.S. They can't
This is total B.S. They can't charge you with escape if they haven't arrested you or you weren't in custody on arrest. I hope these people know their rights or get decent representation! I also hope they don't give in to the system pressuring them to take a deal for felonies! The guy is screwed anyways do to the fact that he was on probation, but I had a buddy that did the same thing at the same probation office and he beat the escape charge. I think this is just eluding, failure to stop at an officers discretion, or something to that affect. A misdameanor none the less.
re: ROCKY
You say your buddy beat the charge, have you thought of gainful employment maybe, peoples who cannot follow the very simple rules like probation, should probably think about getting a clue, so basically what your saying is that doing meth is ok,
Maybe its time you find new friends and let jail house people go
or the mentality that is, Think about your future, GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT ! let the losers go, let jail go,