Inmate Facing New Charges After Allegedly Stealing Police Van During Prisoner Transfer

A Wapato woman is behind bars in Kittitas County after police say she escaped from custody and stole a van that was being used to transport her to a Westside jail early Tuesday.

The Kittitas County Sheriff's Office says 27-year-old Rebecca Rea Tupuola was being moved from the Yakima County Jail to the King County Jail at around 9:50 a.m. when she made off with the van near Bowers Field in Ellensburg.

Deputies say the van was parked as part of a routine procedure to transfer inmates between jails when Tupuola took it with one prisoner still inside the back of the vehicle, who did not appear to be an accomplice to her alleged escape or theft.

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The officers who were handling the transport notified several local law enforcement agencies about the incident, and an APB was issued for Tupuola and the van.

The inmate who was still inside the rear of the van when Tupuola allegedly stole it reportedly used a cell phone that had been left inside the vehicle to call 9-1-1, and she then dropped him off in a nearby field a short time later.

Emergency dispatchers traced the call to the area of Game Farm and Naneum Roads at around 10:15 a.m., and the inmate who called 9-1-1 reportedly said he'd seen Tupuola enter a residence in the area and come back out a few moments later with a fistful of cash, and that she was hiding in a cluster of trees nearby.

Officers arrived at the scene within a few minutes and placed the immediate vicinity on a shelter-in-place order while they searched for Tupuola, who reportedly called 9-1-1 herself to surrender after about 10-15 minutes.

She was located and re-arrested before being booked into the Kittitas County Jail on charges of escape, kidnapping, residential burglary, theft, and theft of a motor vehicle.