Fugitive reportedly hiding in plain sight
SANDPOINT — The older brother of a Bonner County man who is still at large after escaping from an Idaho State Police trooper has been arrested for harboring a wanted felon.
Allen Lee Dunnagan Sr. made an initial court appearance Friday via video link from the Bonner County Jail. Judge Barbara Buchanan sustained Dunnagan’s $50,000 bail and appointed a public defender to represent him, court records indicate.
“Is there any way that I can get out on OR,” Dunnagan asked, referring to a release on his own recognizance. “I have kids, a family. I’m not going no place, your honor.”
Buchanan denied the request, but reminded Dunnagan he can seek an OR release or a bond reduction at a subsequent hearing.
Dunnagan, 53, was arrested on the felony harboring charge after a former Bonner County Sheriff’s deputy testified under oath on Tuesday that he spotted the two brothers in a vehicle on Rapid Lightning Road last weekend.
Dunnagan’s 52-year-old brother, Leland Elroy Dunnagan has been on the lam since March 13, when he escaped from Cpl. Jeff Jayne’s unlocked patrol vehicle while handcuffed and slipped away into the woods.
Leland Dunnagan, a convicted felon, was under arrest for illegally possessing a firearm. He now faces a second felony charge of escape.
Authorities suspected the two brothers were in league following the escape, but Allen Dunnagan denied it when he was questioned.
“A person who knows both of them had in fact observed the two of them together,” Chief Deputy Prosecutor Phil Robinson during a probable cause hearing on Tuesday.
The witness, Jeff Laybourne testified during the hearing that he recognized both brothers and was close enough to notice both were wearing seat belts when they passed each other on the road.
Authorities consider Leland Dunnagan, a registered sex offender who has a rape conviction from Twin Falls County, armed and dangerous.
He is being sought on a $100,000 arrest warrant.
A bond reduction hearing in Allen Dunnagan’s case is set for Wednesday.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled to be held on April 14.