Chelan Washington Man Sentenced to 41 Months in Federal Prison for Attempted Escape

Spokane – Michael C. Ormsby, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced that that Bud Ray Brown, age 33 of Chelan, Washington, was sentenced today after having previously plead guilty to the felony charge of Attempted Escape. Senior United States District Judge Justin L. Quackenbush sentenced Brown to a 41-month term of imprisonment, to be served consecutive to an existing 180-month sentence from 2013 for a federal firearms violation, and to be followed by a 1-year term of court supervision upon release from federal prison.

According to the information disclosed during court proceedings in this case, on August 19-20, 2015, Brown attempted to escape from his jail cell located on an upper floor of the Spokane County Jail after breaching his jail cell window and after removing the window frame and glass. Brown had also used a tool to chip away at the concrete surrounding the window frame in an attempt to enlarge the actual window opening. Brown had deployed a sturdy rope out of his jail cell window which was braided/woven together using sheets/linens and which was tied off on a metal bunk bed in his cell. Brown’s attempt to escape was detected after persons below reported seeing debris (a mattress, glass and metal) and with the sighting of a deployed makeshift rope dangling from an upper jail cell window. Officers also found a pair of pants crudely sewn together from a blanket lying on the ground below Brown’s cell near the other debris. At the time of his attempted escape, Brown was serving a 180-month federal sentence stemming from a 2013 firearms conviction and had been returned from federal prison and placed in the Spokane County Jail on a writ ad prosequendum to face a 2012 state charge.

Michael C. Ormsby said “This attempt to escape from the Spokane County Jail was striking and brazen and fortunately it was detected before the Defendant could further damage the jail or succeed in his escape efforts. The consecutive nature of this sentence will certainly help in deterring others from making similar attempts to escape from jail. My office commends the collaborative investigation seen in this case as shared by Spokane County Detention Services, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the FBI.”

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, and Spokane County Detention Services. This case was prosecuted by Jared C. Kimball, an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington.