BILLINGS — One of the three men who escaped from Big Horn County jail in February has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in the incident.
Andrew Parham, 26, was sentenced Wednesday by District Judge Matthew Wald in Hardin following his conviction on a felony escape charge, Big Horn County Attorney Jay Harris said in a news release.
Parham was being held on felony drug charges for extradition to Oklahoma when he and two other inmates- Stephen Caplett and Anthony Castro- lured a deputy into a cell, assaulted him to get his keys, then assaulted a dispatcher then escaped the jail.
Caplett and Castro were rearrested within a week of the jailbreak and are in jail in Yellowstone County and awaiting trial in Big Horn County.
Parham was arrested about a month after the jailbreak at a residence in Crow Agency. He was arrested through a joint effort by U.S. Marshal’s Service Violent Offender Task Force and the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office.
“The timely apprehension and arrest of the three escapees from the Big Horn County Jail is an excellent example of the power of interagency cooperation and coordination. When federal and State law enforcement agencies work together with focus and a sense of urgency in our local community, criminals are not safe from the reach of justice,” Harris said in a statement.
Including the three escapees, six people face felony charges related to the escape.
A fourth inmate, Casey Leider, helped the three escapees break out but was caught before he could get out of the jail.
Parham's girlfriend, Odessa Rose Cottier, was charged for calling in a false report to lure deputies away from the jail the night of the escape. Another man, Robert Burgess, was charged for his role as a get-away driver for the three escapees.
