GOLDEN — Authorities captured escaped sex offender Travis Sandlin on Thursday morning outside a vacant home just after he rammed an armored SWAT vehicle and flipped a stolen van.
A tactical unit was moments away from swooping in to arrest Sandlin when the escapee spotted officers and tried to flee, ending a roughly 11-day metro-area manhunt at the bottom of a steep embankment where the wanted man was trapped.
Sandlin, 32, was arrested about 8:45 a.m. on the 3900 block of Sunshine Canyon Drive in Boulder. The house where he was hiding is for sale and its owners away, officials said.
“It’s a relief,” Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink said at a news conference in Golden after Sandlin was captured.
Sandlin, who is accused of stealing six cars during his time on the lam, was taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries suffered in the collision. Officials say they are investigating indications that Sandlin might have been assisted while he was on the run.
“There was no reason to believe that he left the area,” Mink said, adding that Sandlin’s propensity for drug use and access to methamphetamine in the Denver area could have prompted his decision not to leave.
the Jefferson County Jail when he fled from an outdoor recreation area about 9:30 on Oct. 5 after he broke in wire fencing and jumped down several roofs. The escapee was being held in the jail’s most secure pod because of his prior criminal history.
“Unfortunately, the place he escaped from was not up to specification,” Mink said, explaining how a contractor worked on the fencing over the summer.
“They are going to be held responsible for their work,” Mink said, declining to say who the contractor was. “There might be some lawsuits.”
Sandlin was seen in Commerce City, Wheat Ridge and Lakewood after his escape.
“He was driving in excess of 100 miles per hour at noontime on Wadsworth,” in Lakewood on Wednesday, Mink said.
Mink said law enforcement officers avoided several high-speed chases with Sandlin because they wanted to capture him in one set location to avoid any harm to the public.
Sandlin was initially being held after an arrest in Arvada on suspicion of drug, weapons, burglary and car theft charges. His criminal record dates back 15 years and includes convictions for burglary, car theft and fraud.
Sandlin was also required to register as a sex offender after a Peeping Tom incident in 2003.
Officials say Sandlin faces “several” felony charges for offenses committed after his escape, including grand theft auto and credit card theft.
“He will be monitored constantly,” Mink said of Sandlin’s return to the Jefferson County Jail.
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jesseapaul
The Boulder Daily Camera contributed to this report.
