A man who ran from police on a stolen motorcycle and then tried to escape from jail while waiting for trial was given a nine-year sentence.
The defendant Timothy Michael Hupp, 25, was ordered to serve 360 days of a nine-year sentence, pay $1,000 and perform 40 hours public service work for theft, evading arrest, reckless endangerment, attempt to commit felony escape and vandalism.
His sentence comes after police answered a domestic disturbance involving Hupp and a woman. McMinnville Patrolman Kenneth Seagraves said he saw Hupp on the motorcycle and ordered him to stop twice; however, the cyclist ignored the order and took off. Seagraves caught up to the suspect on Cascade Avenue a few minutes later and Hupp pulled over. However, as the officer was walking up to the motorcycle Hupp drove off at a high rate of speed.
While able to get away in the short term, police found the motorcycle hidden by an apartment and then found the suspect. The cycle was stolen out of Illinois.
It was while waiting for hearing on the chase that Hupp picked up his attempted escape charge. These were lodged when jailers discovered Hupp had crawled up into the ceiling area of his cell sometime in the pre-dawn hours. Hupp was being held, along with a couple of other inmates, in a cell which is designated as part of the medical wing of the facility.
Hupp was able to access the duct work above his cell by removing screws which fastened the cell drop ceiling to the main building structure. Once an area was opened in ceiling, Hupp was able to climb into the crawl space above the cell where he worked on chipping away at the mortar in the brick wall above his cell. Investigators believe if Hupp had not been discovered he would have been able to chip his way through the block and free himself from the jail as two other inmates did last October. In that case the inmates used a metal urinal pipe to pound their way through the brick and to freedom. Those inmates have both been sentenced for their actions.