Curry escapee gets 10 years

Victor Sotelo, 26,pleaded guilty April 10 to two counts of aggravated battery, aggravated fleeing law enforcement, child abuse and escape from jail. He was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment.

Five days of ill-gotten freedom, combined with charges that landed him in jail in the first place, have earned one of Clovis’ eight escapees 10 years of imprisonment.

Victor Sotelo, 26, faced with a jury trial, pleaded guilty April 10 to two counts of aggravated battery, aggravated fleeing law enforcement, child abuse and escape from jail, court records show.

In exchange, Sotelo accepted a sentence of 10 years imprisonment followed by two years supervised probation, a press release from the district attorney’s office said.

Sotelo was originally arrested Aug. 5 after police attempted to stop his vehicle and he led them on a high-speed chase with a small child in his vehicle, the release said.

Nearly three weeks later on Aug. 24, Sotelo was among eight inmates who escaped from the Curry County Adult Detention Center by stealing a key to a plumbing shaft from detention officers and cutting a hole in the roof with a handmade tool.

Sotelo was found hiding in Albuquerque five days after the escape and is one of seven of the escapees to be captured and returned to jail

Convicted child-killer, 24-year-old Edward Salas, remains at large.