The Edinburgh man who prompted a city-wide emergency notification after escaping from police a year ago has been sentenced to eight years in prison.
During this week’s sentencing, Dustin A. Evans, 27, blamed his actions on a drug addiction and asked the judge for leniency to avoid a financial hardship on his fiancé and four children, who reside in Franklin.
“I feel for the children and your fiancé, but the hardship was created by the actions of the defendant — and nobody else,” Bartholomew Superior Court 1 Judge Jim Worton said.
Evans was found guilty by a jury of escape and unlawful possession of a syringe last month. His sentence is just short of the maximum allowed under the law for his 17th adult criminal conviction.
Evans was arrested Nov. 16, 2015, after Edinburgh police officers found he was carrying both methamphetamine and paraphernalia. He also was wanted on a Scott County warrant for possession of drug precursors.
Evans was arrested and taken to the Bartholomew County Jail, where officials said he needed to be checked out at the hospital because it was believed he had ingested narcotics. On the way back to the jail, Evans told the officer he was getting sick, and she allowed him out of the car. When the officer went to put him back in the car, Evans escaped, Edinburgh Police Chief David Mann said.
Police searched for Evans for days. He was seen by police a little more than a week later but got away after a vehicle and foot pursuit.
On Thanksgiving Day 2015, police issued a statewide advisory describing Evans as armed and dangerous after it was learned he had been selling methamphetamine and guns that were hidden beneath a blanket in a vehicle, the advisory stated. Three days later, a multi-agency effort on the east side of Indianapolis led to Evans’ arrest.