FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 26, 2006
JOSEPH BELVILLE SENTENCED FOR ESCAPE
DENVER – Troy Eid, United States Attorney for the District of Colorado, and Ed Zahren, United States Marshal for the District of Colorado, announced that JOSEPH JOHN BELVILLE, age 35, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Court Judge Wiley Y. Daniel to serve 5 years (60 months) in federal prison for escaping from federal custody on August 3, 2004. Judge Daniel ordered that the defendant serve his sentence consecutive to his 40 year state sentence for related conduct.
According to the stipulated facts outlined in the plea agreement, in 1993 BELVILLE pled guilty to charges of interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle and stolen goods. He served a sentence of 39 months in the Bureau of Prison system. He was then released from confinement and placed on supervised release in Littleton, Colorado. On January 5, 2004, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois issued an arrest warrant for BELVILLE for violating his supervised release. BELVILLE was arrested on that warrant on July 27, 2004, in Colorado.
On August 3, 2004, the defendant appeared in U.S. District Court in Colorado on the supervised release violation. During that court appearance a federal magistrate judge ordered the U.S. Marshals to transfer the defendant to the Central District of Illinois. BELVILLE was then handed over to Washington County Deputies to be transported to their Detention Center in Akron, Colorado, because the U.S. Marshals Service periodically contracts with local jails for housing federal prisoners.
At approximately 3:48 p.m., Washington County Sheriff’s Deputies left the courthouse with all prisoners in restraints in their transport van. While on the northbound entrance ramp to I-25 at 20th Street in Denver, the defendant, having freed himself from the restraints, opened the rear passenger door of the van, opened the front passenger door of the van, and struggled with a Deputy in an unsuccessful attempt to remove the Deputy’s duty pistol from the holster. After a brief struggle the defendant fell from the moving van and fled on foot.
On August 5, 2004, a Deputy U.S. Marshal located the defendant in North Denvr following an intense two day manhunt. In order to elude arrest, BELVILLE pulled a man from his car, leading officers on a high speed chase. The chase ended when a Deputy U.S. Marshal collided with the car being driven by BELVILLE.
“The defendant is a career criminal who made an attempt to escape from justice,” U.S. Attorney Troy Eid said. “I want to thank the Deputy U.S. Marshals and Denver Police officers who risked their lives to apprehend this extremely dangerous escapee.”
BELVILLE was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service and the Denver Police Department. He was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Philip Brimmer.
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