LOCAL NEWS
Registered sex offender caught in southern Utah after months on the run
Sep 28, 2021, 5:14 PM | Updated: 10:27 pm
WAYNE COUNTY, Utah — A nationwide search for a dangerous fugitive on the run from the law came to an end in southern Utah.
John Freeman Colt, 42, who went to prison for aggravated sexual battery and attempted rape, is now behind bars in the Sevier County Jail.
According to the U.S. Marshals Office, Colt was found at a campground in the Torrey Area, about 60 miles southeast of Richfield.
The 42-year-old escaped from a mental hospital in Kansas on June 30.
Officials with the U.S. Marshal’s Office said he actually posed as a doctor.
Since then, authorities have been desperately trying to find him because he was considered to be extremely dangerous.
Investigators said he had been planning his escape from the Lamed State Hospital in Kansas for several months.
He managed to get a staff ID badge and dress clothes and convinced a new staff worker that he was a doctor and needed help finding his way out.
The U.S. Marshall’s Office released a Wanted Poster, offering a $10,000 reward for his capture.
They released photos and pictures of his motorcycle that he had purchased prior to his escape.
On Monday night, the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office received a tip from a person recognizing Colt, who went by the name of Jason Holt, as someone who had been camping in the area.
Detectives went to his campsite and spotted him on his motorcycle.
Colt took off and police gave chase, reaching speeds up to 100 miles per hour.
Deputies were able to finally catch him, and he is now in jail in Sevier County, waiting to be taken back to Kansas.
Colt was sentenced on December 14, 2001 to five years in state prison. But after his sentence was complete, Kansas courts deemed he was a high-risk sexually violent predator and too dangerous to be released.
He was then indefinitely admitted to the hospital for a sexual predator treatment program until his escape.
KSL-TV spoke with the county attorney in Kansas that’s prosecuted Colt, and he was very pleased the 42-year-old is off the streets.
