Caleb C. Peil, 41, of Ocean Park, entered a guilty plea to attempting to elude a police vehicle and was sentenced to a year in prison. The action took place in Pacific County Superior Court on November 20.
On May 24, 2014, a Pacific County Deputy Sheriff observed a motor home and he believed the driver was suspended. When the Deputy activated his emergency lights to stop the vehicle, the driver sped up, ran a stop sign and eventually stopped, and the driver ran on foot.
The deputy recognized that the driver was not the person he believed it was, but knew Peil from previous contacts. A K-9 was deployed, but Peil jumped into a swamp and swam to the other side eluding the Deputy and his K-9.
"Mr. Peil began writing us from an Oregon prison, attempting to have us drop our case or at the very least, our arrest warrant, but I was unwilling to do that," said Pacific County Prosecutor Mark McClain.
"Outstanding arrest warrants affect an offender's classification, cause them to receive less earned early release, among other things, and I believe when someone absconds, we should hold them accountable, not only here, but also in other jurisdictions if we can, and certainly I would not dismiss a case just because they were arrested in another jurisdiction," McClain said.
Peil will likely complete his prison sentence in Washington before being returned to Oregon to serve any sentence that remains there.