Man bolts from Courthouse to avoid arrest

A man who was about to be taken into custody on warrants in Grays Harbor District Court Monday afternoon instead made his second escape from court.

Jesse James Eichelberger was not on the docket but came to District Court to ask that several warrants be quashed, including a $10,000 warrant for felony possession of a stolen vehicle.

Undersheriff Rick Scott said the judge denied his request and told him to sit down so he could be taken into custody. Eichelberger said he had to go to the bathroom and left the courtroom. A court security officer followed him out and saw him run out the door of the courthouse. The officer called out to Eichelberger to stop but he did not.

Citizen reports spotted Eichelberger both south and east of the courthouse, and he remains at large, Scott said. Eichelberger is described as a white male about 6 feet tall and 200 pounds with a muscular build and a shaved head.

This isn’t the first time Eichelberger has fled from court Scott said. In 2006, he was about to be taken into custody in Superior Court and made a run for it.

“He ran right out of his shoes,” Scott said. Eichelberger lost one of his shoes as he ran from the courthouse in that attempt. He was charged and convicted of escape in that instance, and Scott said the Sheriff’s Office would be filing a report to ask the prosecutor to file that charge in this case. Scott added that if Eichelberger had been on the court docket, precautions would have been taken, but in this instance he showed up unannounced. “If we’d have seen he was on the docket, court security would have been in place,” Scott said.

Officers from Montesano, Elma, McCleary and the State Patrol are assisting the Sheriff’s Office in the search. Aberdeen police sent their K-9 unit, but due to foot traffic and other contamination of the scene the dog was unable to pick up a trail.