SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - A man who escaped from Missouri halfway house in 2018 and was on the loose until he was arrested in February in California pleaded guilty Tuesday to escaping from federal custody.
Benjamin Garnica, 34, escaped from a Springfield halfway house in September 2018, just five weeks before he was to be released after serving an 80-month sentence for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. He had left the house to go to work and didn't return.
He was arrested in February in San Diego as he was reentering the United States from Mexico.
Garnica faces up to five years in federal prison without parole.