An Orcas Island man who checked out early and without permission from a shift on the Sheriff’s Department work crew was sentenced to a 17-month prison term for felony escape.

On Sept. 5, Robert Thomas Speers, 22, pleaded guilty in San Juan County Superior Court to one count of second-degree escape, a Class C felony. He was sentence to 17 months in prison by Judge pro-tem Glenna Hall, and ordered to pay $600 in fines and fees. The standard range of sentencing set by the state for a second-degree escape conviction is 17-22 months in prison; maximum penalties are five years in prison, a $10,000 fine, or both.

According to court documents, Speers was assigned to work crew as part of a sentence handed down for violating court orders on back-to-back convictions in 2011 for bail jumping and for escape from community custody. Those violations followed a conviction and sentence two years earlier for possession of a controlled substance.

On Aug. 12, the day before the 2014 San Juan County Fair, Speers, while assigned to a work crew shift at the Friday Harbor fairgrounds, left the fairgrounds without permission at about 2 p.m. and boarded a ferry bound for Orcas Island. Deputies were notified of his disappearance by the work crew supervisor and Speers was taken into custody about two hours later at an apartment in Eastsound, which reportedly belongs to his mother.

Work crew is an alternative sentencing program designed to reduce jail overcrowding by providing minimum risk offenders with an option to meet court obligations that can include: fines, program fees, community service, and jail sentences. Those enrolled in the program typically pay a fee to participate.