BAXTER SPRINGS, Kan. — Cherokee County Sheriff’s Deputies captured a Baxter Springs man seven months after he was sentenced to prison, but never reported to authorities.
Wednesday afternoon officials received information that James Thompson, 46, was hiding in a rural Baxter Springs home.
Deputies say that as they searched the home, Thompson continued hiding from them. When he was found, he failed to comply with officers and that’s when they say a Sheriff’s K9 was deployed to assist in the apprehension.
In May 2022, Thompson pleaded guilty in Cherokee County District Court to one felony count of criminal threat. He originally faced 12 charges that included kidnapping, multiple counts of aggravated assault, aggravated battery, stalking, criminal threat, and criminal threat to property. As a result of the plea, Thompson, who was not in custody at the time of the sentencing hearing, was ordered to surrender himself to the Cherokee County Jail in August of 2022 — to then be transferred to the Kansas Department of Corrections, and serve a 16-month-sentence.
A pre-sentence investigation report shows Thompson committed nine felonies while on felony probation.
After failing to surrender last year, Cherokee County authorities sought an arrest warrant for Thompson on another charge of aggravated escape from custody.
Following his arrest today (Wednesday), Thompson was transported to the Cherokee County Jail, where he remains without bond.
According to online records with the Kansas Department of Corrections, Thompson had previously been incarcerated in the Kansas Prison System, after being convicted in Cherokee County on charges of aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, and theft.
Thompson was on probation in Missouri at the time he committed the crime in 2020.
