Inmate serving time in Pahrump escapes from jail

A 22-year-old man serving a misdemeanor sentence in the Pahrump jail faces a felony escape charge after walking away from the outdated facility Sunday night.

Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo said Johnathon Charles Deshaw had completed about one-third of his jail sentence on a stolen property charge. Now he is the subject of a no-bail arrest warrant transmitted to law enforcement agencies nationwide, DeMeo said.

"He's still on the loose, but he's not considered a threat," the sheriff said Wednesday afternoon.

DeMeo said the incident highlights the need for a new jail in the town of about 40,000 residents 60 miles west of Las Vegas. The jail is made from modular buildings that were brought to Pahrump in 1988 after the structures were condemned in Colorado, he said.

"The facility is out of compliance because it's so freaking old," the sheriff said. "It's old, but we're doing the best we can to maintain it."

Plans are in the works for a new jail.

Deshaw's good behavior at the jail earned him a job as an inmate worker, and that gave him access to the unsecured supply room from which he made his escape, DeMeo said. After walking out the fire exit, Deshaw scaled a 6-foot fence topped with razor wire and disappeared, DeMeo said. Deshaw is 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighs 115 pounds, with brown eyes, short-cropped brown hair and a thin goatee.

Shortly before Deshaw escaped, he apparently told his fellow inmates he was upset about missing his son's birthday party in Las Vegas, DeMeo said.