Two fugitives arrested near Troy

Two federal prisoners who escaped Sunday morning from the Mineral County jail in Superior were captured Monday afternoon near Troy.

One of the fugitives, 42-year-old Donald Joseph Schwindt, had been convicted of causing an October 2007 disturbance at a Creston home in which shots were fired when sheriff's deputies responded.

According to the U.S. Marshals Service, Schwindt and William Newhoff, 26, were traveling together but taken into custody hours apart.

Newhoff, who was driving a red 2001 Dodge Ram pickup truck the pair allegedly stole in Superior, was arrested during a traffic stop on the outskirts of Troy.

Schwindt fled on foot from Montana Highway Patrol troopers and was arrested several hours later in some mountains near the town.

The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office, Montana Highway Patrol, Troy Police Department, Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Marshals Service, and aircraft from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security were all involved in the search for Schwindt.

Both men are facing federal and possibly state escape charges. Accomplices who may have assisted in the escape may also be facing federal charges, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

How the men broke out of jail "is currently under investigation by the Mineral County Sheriff's Office," said U.S. Marshals Service Supervisor Dana Rossmiller.

Staff at the Mineral County Sheriff's Office forwarded questions regarding the escape to the Mineral County Attorney's Office. County Attorney Shaun Donovan declined to comment.

Schwindt and Newhoff had both been convicted of federal weapons charges and were awaiting sentencing in U.S. District Court in Missoula when the escape occurred, Rossmiller said.

The U.S. government contracts with Mineral County, which is located directly west of Missoula County, to hold federal prisoners, Rossmiller said. There is no federal penitentiary in Montana.

Schwindt, who was scheduled to be sentenced Friday, pleaded guilty in October to being a felon in possession of a firearm for his role in the Creston disturbance.

His co-defendant, 37-year-old Brian Daniel Rendon, pleaded guilty in August to possession of a firearm by an unlawful drug user and was sentenced earlier this month to 30 months in federal prison.

Both men were wanted for parole violations out of Oregon when, early in the morning on Oct. 25, 2007, two women called the Flathead County Sheriff's Office from a trailer on Riverside Road in Creston to report that two men had beaten them up and then threatened to shoot at responding law-enforcement officers.

Schwindt had been convicted in Oregon of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle in 1992. Rendon had been convicted of homicide in 1990.

As deputies approached the home, shots were fired toward officers. Authorities set up a perimeter around the trailer and roadblocks, capturing both men after a short manhunt.

Rendon later told investigators he could see the red-and-blue flashing lights of approaching police cars as Schwindt fired out the window.

Deputies found two guns at the scene: a .22-caliber rifle and a Ruger .223-caliber semi-automatic rifle. Federal prosecutors allege the pair also had a second .22-caliber rifle.

The fugitives had been in Montana for about three weeks, prosecutors said.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com