WATERVILLE – A convicted child sex offender police arrested earlier this month as a fugitive from justice escaped Monday from security officers in Kansas who were driving him back to Colorado.

The escapee, Deon Gregory Routt, 22, may return to Waterville, where he has family, Waterville Deputy Chief Charles Rumsey said. Routt is described as a black male who is 5 feet, 5 inches tall, with brown eyes and weighing 145 pounds.

Rumsey asked that anyone who sees Routt contact police at 680-4700.

Waterville police were notified of Routt’s escape in Lawrence, Kan., at 5:30 p.m. Monday by the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado Springs, Colo.

According to a Kansas City Star story that ran online Tuesday, Routt was being driven Monday from Virginia to Colorado by private security officers and when the officers stopped the van to check on a prisoner, Routt escaped on foot.

Routt was convicted in 2011 for sexual assault on a child in Colorado Springs, and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation Sex Offender site reports that he failed to register as a sex offender.

Advertisement

Sgt. Joe Roybal of the Colorado Springs sheriff’s office said Tuesday that Routt is charged with failure to comply with the condition that he register as a sex offender.

He was scheduled to face the judge in Colorado who handled his initial sexual assault case.

“Here, if anybody fails to comply, once arrested, he is taken before the original judge who either re-releases him with conditions, imposes a partial sentence and releases him or imposes the full original sentence from the case,” said Roybal.

On Oct. 11, Waterville police went to 13 Oak St., Apt. 2, to find Routt. Routt’s family members denied he was in the apartment but police searched it and found him hiding there, Rumsey said. He was taken to Kennebec County Jail in Augusta, and later, the extradition process began.

The Colorado Springs Police Department was seeking his return, according to Roybal.

A call placed late Tuesday afternoon to that police department’s public information officer was not immediately returned.

 


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.