OKANOGAN — A man who escaped from an Okanogan County Jail work crew on Tuesday was arrested Thursday in a Lincoln County wheat field.
The sheriff’s office says 18-year-old Nathaniel D. Smallbeck was spotted along Highway 174 by a Grand Coulee police officer. After seeing the officer, Smallbeck fled into the field and was arrested by Undersheriff Joe Somday.
The Wenatchee World reported Smallbeck said he hadn’t eaten in two days and tried to hitchhike from Okanogan. No one picked up, so he walked all the way to Grand Coulee, a distance of about 40 miles.
Smallbeck is back in jail facing an escape charge. When he was initially arrested in June at an Orondo burglary he said he welcomed arrest because he was homeless and had nowhere to go.
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