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Escapee still on the loose
Published 10/16/2009 in Local News : Police
By SHAJIA AHMAD
A wanted man who escaped from jail earlier this week is still on the run, despite several days of intensive searching by area law enforcement.
Mitchell Ebihara Jr., 27, assaulted, battered and overpowered a corrections officer on Monday before escaping from the Kearny County Law Enforcement Center, according to sheriff's officials.
Kearny County Sheriff James Jarboe said he wished he had more news this morning, but leads investigated by law enforcement officials have so far come up dry.
"Our search circle just gets bigger and bigger as time goes by," Jarboe said, adding that law enforcement officials are not sure whether Ebihara is still in the area. "We know he has contacts in Garden City and the surrounding communities. We're working through those leads now."
Ebihara is 5-foot-4, 118 pounds and has a slight build with brown eyes, short black hair and a light complexion.
Jarboe said he encourages the public, including individuals at area hospitals and schools, to be extra vigilant. If members of the public locate someone matching Ebihara's description, they are encouraged to call (800) KS-Crime, a 24-hour tip line. A reward is available for any information that leads to the assailant's arrest, the sheriff said.
There is no school today in Deerfield due to a teacher in-service, and Lakin schools are operating as usual, school officials said. Holcomb schools will be dismissed at noon today, and the exterior doors are always locked, school administration officials said.
Authorities searched Thursday morning in the Arkansas River riverbed between Deerfield and Holcomb, said Finney County Sheriff Kevin Bascue, whose deputies are assisting Kearny County officials.
Ebihara made his escape Monday night after overpowering corrections officer Mirna Saenz. She was treated and released for minor injuries.
He was arrested July 7 by the Kearny County Sheriff's Office on felony charges, including attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery and two other felonies. He was wanted in February in connection with the Jan. 30 shooting of Ricardo Lopez, Lakin, who was shot at close range with a 9 mm handgun and was hospitalized due to extensive injuries, Kearny County law enforcement officials have said.
After Ebihara's escape, officers from the Kansas Highway Patrol, Finney County Sheriff's Office, Wichita County Sheriff's Office and Kearny County Sheriff's Office conducted searches and road blocks in the area. Reports of a sighting in north Lakin on Wednesday led to a search and roadblocks, but officers did not find Ebihara.
Found 4 comment(s)!
Getting rid of inmates
If we got rid of them by shooting them we would be worse then the thugs on the streets!! This is why we invented jails. I agree we should take better precautions when transporting inmates.
Posted by: KSU on 10/22/2009
More Deputies
I still can't understand why there was only one officer in the jail at the time this happened, and from what I used to hear form Inmates from Lakin, Scott City, Ulysses, and all the small city jails was that they would rather commit a crime in a small city cause they were treated better than a larger city. They were allowed to go out and smoke, they were fed better, and they could sometimes even wash the law enforcement vehicles. While I worked for a correctional facility in cases like this there should always be two deputies present when handling this type of Inmates. hopefully this will open up their eyes and be more careful and limit and restrict inmates to be allowed to do things that are legally acceptable. nothing against female deputies Inmates always look for a weak link and they do tend to play mind games on people to get what they want. There is a book called "Games that Inmates Play" it will tell you a lot of the tricks that inmates do to manipulate the guards and to get what they want.
Posted by: Ex Officer on 10/17/2009
a burden on society
People like this escapee who are up on any kind of murder charges will never be of benefit to society and cost taxpayers thousands of dollars per day to house in a correctional facility. I hope if they find him hes shot on sight. If he makes it to mexico i hope he stays there and good riddance to our problem. We are in a very troubled financial time in our country and housing these lowlifes costs every single american taxpayer ,, i say we need to use the death penalty and rid our country of the burden of such violent offenders. Maybe if we would use it some of these people would think twice before commiting violent crimes if they knew that when they were caught they would be put to death for it!
Posted by: taxpayer on 10/17/2009
He needs to be behind bars
more and more officers are being manipulated by an inmates actions or just by talking to an inmate, you see it all over prison, jails even juvenile detention centers. i knew ebihara in the past and he was very manipulative when he spoke to me or others just to get what he wanted, what i would like to know if this was a factor in how he escaped?
Posted by: Wants to know on 10/16/2009
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