Manhunt on I-40
Prisoner being transported from California escapes at Sky City Casino

By Helen Davis
Cibola County Bureau

ACOMA — Authorities are seeking an escaped prisoner along Interstate Highway 40 near here.

A multiagency manhunt began near Sky City Casino Friday morning after Richard Joe Youstey, 41, of Magnum, Okla., eluded his guards in the casino at approximately 5:30 a.m.

Jimmy Ray Lee, 57, of Muskogee, Okla., and Frank Valencia, 56, of Stillwater, Okla., picked up Youstey in California for a $200,000 bond owed to Joe Bob Bail Bonds in Chickasha, Okla., Lt. Harry Hall of the Cibola County Sheriff’s Department said. Hall said Youstey had been charged with a white-collar crime related to false pretenses.

The guards stopped at the casino to allow Youstey a restroom break. Hall said Valencia removed the prisoner’s handcuffs, and when the guard took his eyes off him, Youstey went right out the door, according to information the department received.

It is unclear if Lee and Valencia are professional “bounty hunters” or what kind of training and licensing they have. Joe Nelson, owner of the bail bond company could not be reached for comment.

The Grady County Sheriff’s Department in Chickasha reported no record of Youstey under that name. State police, Cibola County Sheriff’s officers, Laguna Police Department, and Acoma Police Department responded to help in the search. Lt. Rick Anglada of the New Mexico State Police said that Western Correctional Facility in Grants provided tracking dogs, and helicopters were also called in. Cubero Elementary School was on lockdown, and Laguna Middle School was on partial lockdown until the search ended, county school authorities said.

Hall said the search was called off without results late Friday. Hall said that it is possible that Youstey hopped a tractor-trailer rig in the Sky City parking lot, or that he was picked up hitchhiking and is out of state by now. An early report that Youstey was picked up by someone driving west in a car with Arizona license plates was unfounded.

Youstey is described as between 5 feet 9 inches and 5 feet 11 inches and weighs between 140 and 160 pounds. He has hazel eyes and brown hair. He was last seen wearing blue jeans, a white shirt, gray hooded sweat top, a white Route 66 baseball cap and may be wearing tennis shoes. State police report that Youstey has tattoos on his hands and arms. One reported sighting near exit 102 around 8:30 Friday morning indicates he may be missing a shoe.

No additional information was available by press time.

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