escaped Humboldt Conservation Camp in Winnemucca, and apprehended Monday, June 20th 2016, in Elko.
(photo credit Elko County Sheriff Office)
Late Monday night, Elko Police officers apprehended one of two escapees from the Humboldt Conservation Camp in Winnemucca.
Around 10:48 p.m., Elko PD responded to a report of an injured person underneath the Fifth Street Bridge, near the river. They determined it was James Westbrook Jr., 23, of Elko.
“Officers had prior knowledge that Westbrook had been reported as an escapee from the custody of the Nevada Department of Corrections,” said Lt. Ty Trouten.
Westbrook told police he hopped a freight train in Winnemucca, which was headed east toward Elko, where his father lives.
When the train arrived in Elko and neared the Fifth Street Bridge, Westbrook jumped from the moving train car and landed in the nearby rocks near the edge of the river,” said Trouten, explaining Westbrook sustained injuries from his landing.
Westbrook was treated at Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital before being returned to the Department of Corrections.
The Department reported Westbrook and his fellow inmate Nicco Donavan Way, 25, walked away from the minimum-security facility over the weekend.
Way was found earlier Monday in Reno, said officials.
Westbrook was convicted in September 2015 of burglary and drug charges and sentenced in Elko District Court to 16 to 72 months.
This conviction was in relation to a June 2014 burglary, where Westbrook stole approximately $13,000 from Joe’s Roadside Market on Fifth Street.
Westbrook fled to Reno after initial contact with police, according to Free Press files.
The Elko County District Attorney’s Office charged Westbrook with burglary and grand larceny valued at $3,500 or greater in August 2014. Westbrook also had an alternative charge of grand larceny valued between $650 and $3,500.
He was arrested in Humboldt County in November 2014.
