WATSONVILLE—An inmate at the Rountree Medium Facility on the outskirts of Watsonville escaped Friday afternoon, leading to an intensive search that ended with his capture later the same day.
Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Ashley Keehn said Christopher Dicochea escaped around 3:45pm from the correctional center on Rountree Lane, near the Buena Vista landfill.
Sheriff’s deputies temporarily shut down Rountree Lane and fanned out in the area minutes after his escape. They shut down Rountree Lane at Harkin Slough Road and stationed law officials at key spots along San Andreas Road, Buena Vista Drive and at the south section of Harkin Slough Road near Pajaro Valley High.
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office Special Enforcement Team eventually found Dicochea about two miles from the facility around eight hours after he escaped, near the new Starbucks drive-thru on Lee Road between West Beach Street and Riverside Drive.
In February 2020 Dicochea, who was then wanted for a robbery in Salinas and a DUI in Morgan Hill, was arrested on suspicion of DUI and crashing into several parked vehicles after a brief chase in Santa Cruz.
He was charged with DUI causing injury, possession of stolen property, evading an officer and carrying a loaded and stolen 9mm handgun in a public place.
