Craig man charged with attempted escape after incident at Routt County jail

John F. Russell/Steamboat Pilot & Today
A 34-year-old Craig man serving an 18-month sentence on burglary and theft charges could face additional jail time following an incident at the Routt County Detention Center on Sunday.
According to court documents, deputies with the Routt County Sheriff’s Office arrested Glen Shaffer shortly before 3 p.m. Sunday on charges of attempted escape and criminal mischief after he allegedly caused more than $20,000 worth of damage at the jail.
Detention center staff called deputies to assist in controlling Shaffer, who they said was armed with a pipe and “threatening to tear everything up,” according to the arrest affidavit. Upon arrival, deputies “observed (Shaffer) breaking a two-pane glass window” separating a restricted area, known as Pod D, with the facility’s main corridor.
He also allegedly broke several windows of individual cells and a window between a dayroom and a bottom tier of jail cells in Pod D. The jail has five different pods that serve as living areas for different groups of inmates.
According to the affidavit, Shaffer went on to use his jail-issued mattress “to protect himself from the broken glass in the window pane and he then climbed through the window to gain access to the main corridor that leads to each pod.”
The arrest document noted that all inmates were locked in their individual cells as Shaffer proceeded to use a yellow mop bucket to break several more windows within the corridor.
After trying to de-escalate the situation, deputies and officers on scene determined Shaffer to be a danger to the safety and security of the detention facility, according to the affidavit, and they formed an “entry crew” to attempt an arrest.
According to the affidavit, Shaffer was taken to the hospital for injuries sustained after the officers fired impact munitions from a 40-millimeter rifle and a bean bag shotgun to take him into custody.
“Prior to his transport to the hospital, Shaffer stated that he did not attempt to escape,” the affidavit noted.
Shaffer’s sister, Dana O’Keefe, said her family spoke to Shaffer following the incident at the jail, which she attributed to a mental health crisis after his girlfriend did not show up for visiting hours as they had planned.
“She did not come and so he was getting worried that something bad had happened,” O’Keefe said Tuesday.
“He talked to somebody to ask to use the phone and they told him no,” she said. “They told him that it wasn’t their problem, and that is essentially when he went around and busted all of their windows in their pod.”
O’Keefe said the officers hit Shaffer about five times with impact munitions, causing injuries that required stitches in his leg.
She said her brother has been held in a padded pod by himself because of the incident with “limited to no phone access,” but in a conversation with a family member, Shaffer maintained that he was not trying to escape as “he was just trying to use the phone.”
According to Routt County Sheriff Doug Scherar, a web-based computer system supporting phones and tablets available for inmates to use was down Sunday, adding that staff “were busy in the jail and didn’t have time to get him out and get him access to the phone.”
At a court hearing Tuesday, a Routt County judge set Shaffer’s bond at $25,000 for the attempted escape and criminal mischief charges.
If he is convicted, the felony charges could add between four and 12 years to Shaffer’s 18-month sentence, which he received following an incident in July of last year where he was arrested after attempting to steal a pickup truck in the Steamboat Springs area.
Shaffer is scheduled to appear again in court Feb. 27.
Trevor Ballantyne is the city government and housing reporter. To reach him, call 970-871-4254 or email him at tballantyne@SteamboatPilot.com.

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