Friday, Oct. 7, 2022 | 4:34 p.m.
An inmate who drove off a work detail in May was arrested and released twice before he was picked up this week, according to the Nevada Department of Corrections.
Jeremiah Nichols, 32, was taken to the High Desert State Prison in Indian Springs after being taken into custody Tuesday with the help of local law enforcement, officials said.
Nichols was at the Casa Grande Transitional Housing center — a facility that lets inmates within 18 months of parole seek work and secure housing — when he drove away from his work site in an employer’s vehicle, the department said.
“In an oversight by the Nevada Department of Corrections, a return warrant was not issued,” and when Nichols was arrested May 5 on a DUI count, he was released from jail on his own recognizance, the department said.
He was arrested again Sept. 22 on suspicion of carjacking and kidnapping and released on house arrest, the Department of Corrections said.
“The NDOC has adopted stricter notification protocols to ensure this does not happen again,” the department said in a statement.
The incident comes after last month’s escape and recapture of Porfirio Duarte-Herrera, an inmate who disappeared from the Southern Desert Correctional Center in September for several days before his absence was noted.
Duarte-Herrera, who is serving a life sentence for murder in a 2007 pipe bombing at a Las Vegas Strip parking garage, was discovered missing Sept. 27, officials said. It was later determined he escaped on Sept. 23, officials said.
Duarte-Herrera was arrested Sept. 28, as he attempted to board a bus to Mexico, authorities said. The fumble in discovering his disappearance led to the resignation of department head Charles Daniels, at the request of the governor.
