Elko teen escapees who allegedly stole car arrested

Four teens who escaped from a juvenile-detention center in Elko Monday night and allegedly stole a car in Fallon Wednesday from the parking lot of the new Wal-Mart Supercenter were later caught in Tonopah, police said.

An employee at the Fallon Supercenter reported her 1995 Saturn stolen sometime after 5 a.m. when she reported to work. When she went outside at about 10 a.m., her vehicle was gone.

Fallon Assistant Police Chief Ray Dolan remembered driving through the parking lot at 7:15 a.m. and seeing a different vehicle parked where the woman said she left her car, he said.

Fallon officers were patrolling the Wal-Mart lot looking for the stolen car when they recognized the license plate on a gold Saturn reported stolen from a home in Winnemucca and linked to the detention center escape.

Dolan said the four juveniles who escaped the youth facility in Elko were stopped by the Nevada Highway Patrol in Tonopah while driving the stolen car from Fallon. They are now in police custody.

"We had received a teletype this morning about four juveniles who escaped from Elko. They somehow got to Winnemucca and stole a Saturn," Dolan said. "They then came to Fallon and stole another one."

According to reports in the Elko Daily Free Press, the teens escaped from the Nevada Youth Training Center after they rushed the door of their dormitory.

A fifth teen who escaped was captured early Tuesday morning near the detention facility. He was booked into the Elko County Jail on charges of escape and grand larceny of a vehicle.