Escaped inmate captured

Bobby Owen is back in custody after he slipped away from a detention officer early Sunday morning after he was taken to the hospital for injuries he received in a fall at the jail.

A Curry County jail inmate is back in custody after about 10 hours of freedom Sunday.

Bobby Owen, 25, was captured without incident at a residence in the 900 block of West Ninth Street in Clovis just after 1 p.m., Curry County Undersheriff Wesley Waller said.

Several other people found in the residence with Owen have been detained as part of the investigation.

“It's so fresh right at the moment, I don’t want to go into details about (how we found him),” Waller said, declining to elaborate on the capture or investigation.

Waller said his office is investigating to determine how Owen escaped from custody.

Owen's girlfriend, Esrellita Sanchez, 22, was also arrested Sunday, charged with harboring a felon and assisting an escape, according to a release from the sheriff's office.

Jail Administrator Lois Bean said Owen slipped away from detention officers about 3 a.m. as he was being loaded into a vehicle following a visit to Clovis' Plains Regional Medical Center.

Owen was taken to the hospital for an examination after he told jail staff he slipped and was injured in his cell, Bean said.

Owen was arrested Thursday, court records show.

He is charged with multiple counts of burglary and larceny in addition to criminal damage and conspiracy.

Bean said he was also being held on a probation violation.

Eight inmates escaped from the Curry County jail last Aug. 24 after cutting a hole in the roof. Sunday's escape is the first since then involving an inmate held at the jail.