SPOKANE — An inmate who took advantage of a Bible study and counseling session to escape from custody in Spokane County has been caught in Arizona with his girlfriend and some packaged marijuana, authorities said.
Roger H. Nordling, 54, and Deborah E. Barden, 39, were arrested Thursday morning after a Highway Patrol officer checked the license plate of Barden’s 1991 Mercury Topaz on U.S. Highway 60 northeast of Phoenix, Harold Sanders of the Arizona Department of Public Safety told the Spokesman-Review.
They apparently had been in Las Vegas before being caught, Sanders said.
Besides being named in warrants from Washington state; Nordling on an accusation of second-degree escape and Barden on an accusation of conspiracy to commit first-degree escape; both were jailed on charges of possession of marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale and transporting marijuana for sale, Sanders said.
“They had a number of baggies with marijuana seeds bagged up for sale,” he said.
Nordling also was charged with hindering prosecution, providing false information and identity theft after he gave someone else’s information to the arresting officer, Sanders said. Sheriff’s Sgt. Dave Reagan said the charge against Nordling in Spokane will likely be changed to first-degree escape.
Nordling vanished from the Geiger Corrections Center on Sept. 27 by asking to get some fresh air during a counseling session, after which he clambered onto a rooftop and hopped a fence, Reagan said. Sanders said Nordling’s Geiger jumpsuit and flip-flops were found in the car.
Another Geiger inmate, Anthony I. Dieterle, is believed to have helped Nordling get onto the roof and may be charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree escape, he added.
Nordling was in Geiger after being accused of drawing a pistol and fleeing when a bail bond employee tried to apprehend him, and Reagan said he tried to draw a gun the next month when he was caught in Idaho by the Eastern Washington Joint Fugitive Task Force.
He is charged in that case with second-degree assault, unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of controlled substance, and the U.S. Marshals Service has a hold on him involving a federal firearms violation in Idaho.
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