TULSA —
A local woman who escaped from custody Tuesday after being sentenced to six years in prison was captured Thursday evening following a collaborative effort between the U.S. Marshal Service and Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.
Bethany Rebecca Luethje, 30, was sentenced this week to spend time in state prison on a 2007 case, court records show. At the request of Special District Judge Holli Wells on Tuesday, Luethje was taken into custody by sheriff’s Deputy Carl Daniels to be transported to CCDC.
But according to a report filed by Daniels, he was taking Luethje down the courthouse stairwell to his patrol car when an attorney stopped him because he’d left behind paperwork. Daniels said when he turned to get the paperwork from the attorney, Luethje fled, then refused to stop when commanded to do so by the deputy.
Daniels said Luethje was last seen running across Delaware Street before she disappeared. Officers from the Tahlequah Police Department and Northeastern State University assisted in the search.
Sheriff’s Investigator James Brown, a special deputy U.S. Marshal, said he received information that Luethje fled to her sister’s home in Tulsa, on 31st Street. A warrant for her arrest was issued in Cherokee County at about 4 p.m. Thursday, and Luethje was behind bars in Tulsa County by 6 p.m. Luethje will eventually be extradited back to Cherokee County on her charges.
Brown said her capture was a joint effort of the northern and eastern districts of the state’s U.S. Marshal Service and the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.
Court records show Luethje had been charged with endeavoring to manufacture a controlled dangerous substance, child endangerment, and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia in 2007. After several years of court appearances, Luethje was remanded to CCDC on June 12, 2012, court records indicate.
During her court appearance Tuesday on an application to accelerate a previous sentence, Luethje was found to be in violation of the rules and conditions of her probation and was handed the six-year sentence, according to court records.
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