A Durango fugitive who ran from law enforcement Tuesday afternoon during a traffic stop was caught about eight hours later when authorities received a tip alerting them to his location.
Abrien Lobato, 25, is suspected of absconding from his parole. He was on parole for eluding law enforcement in a previous incident, said Sgt. Wes Doughty, with La Plata County Sheriff’s Office.
A sheriff’s deputy tried to execute a traffic stop about 1:20 p.m. in the Grandview area in southeast Durango, but Lobato allegedly fled on foot and evaded law enforcement for more than two hours until the search was called off.
The Sheriff’s Office put out a reverse-911 call to residents in the area, warning them that a fugitive was on the loose in the neighborhood. Deputies were worried Lobato might try to gain entry into homes in an effort to evade law enforcement, Doughty said.
Someone who read about the search in The Durango Herald notified authorities at 9:11 p.m. that Lobato was at the Lightner Creek Mobile Home Park west of Durango, about 10 miles from the initial traffic stop, Doughty said.
It took some convincing to get Lobato to surrender, he said.
“The officers contacted that particular trailer, and a female said, ‘Yes, he's inside,’ and they finally, after deliberating with him for quite a while from the outside, convinced him to surrender,” Doughty said.
shane@durangoherald.com
