Former Mineral County escapee arrested in Missoula
William “Billy” Dale Newhoff took Missoula law enforcement on a three-hour chase Tuesday, Jan. 30. Newhoff also escaped from the Mineral County Detention Center in 2009. (Photo courtesy Missoula County Sheriff Facebook)
Missoula law enforcement spent Tuesday, Jan. 30, going door-to-door in East Missoula looking for a man wanted on outstanding federal warrants. William “Billy” Dale Newhoff was captured in a mobile home after leading officers on a chase in a stolen pickup truck which he crashed into a house and tree and then fled on foot.
Newhoff is no stranger to crime and was the man who escaped from the Mineral County Detention Center in 2009. The escaped occurred on the morning of Sunday, Jan. 26 and with another prisoner, Daniel Schwindt when they crawled through the roof of their jail cell. Both men had been convicted of federal weapons charges and were awaiting sentencing in U.S. District Court. The pair was arrested a day later, Monday afternoon, Jan. 27, 2009 near Troy.
Newhoff has prior convictions for theft, burglary and forgery in Missoula. In 2002 he was sentenced to ten years in the Department of Corrections. After the jail escape in Mineral County he was sentenced to nine months in federal prison. A sentenced he was supposed to serve after he had served his other criminal sentences according to recent news reports. Those sentences included a 2007 felony of possession of a stolen firearm.
In Tuesday’s incident, U.S. marshals and deputies tried to arrest Newhoff at the Aspen Motel in East Missoula at approximately 9:30 a.m. for federal warrants for absconding from the supervision of the Billings office of probation and parole.
During the three hour search, a helicopter from Two Bear Air was called in from Kalispell and the Missoula College was on lock down. Also, the Kim Williams Trail near the University of Montana was closed and UM students were warned of incident. Bonnor Elementary School kept their doors locked and student inside and East Missoula residents were told to keep their doors locked when alerted to the fugitive on the run.
Numerous law enforcement agencies were called in including the Missoula County Sheriff Offices Swat vehicle, and K-9 units. He was finally arrested at 1:45 p.m. without incident when officers found him in a mobile home located in the 800 block of Speedway Avenue. He is now booked in the Missoula County Detention Center and was expected to appear in court within the week after his arrest.