Herbert Alexander Preston was arrested by the San Francisco Police Department this past Saturday, Sept. 26, according to a Tuesday report from Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Preston had escaped from the jail on Sept. 6. He'd last been accounted for by jail officials at about 9 a.m. that day as he and a group of fellow inmates were going to church services at the jail, according to Bauman's initial report on the escape.
About an hour after Preston was seen heading to church, sheriff's deputies received a report of a male subject swimming in Clear Lake and getting out of the water wearing denim clothing and boots that matched the clothing issued to minimum security inmates. The man was seen in the Lafferty Road area in north Lakeport, but deputies were unable to find him.
Bauman said the Lake County Jail was notified Saturday that Preston had been arrested in San Francisco. Preston was booked at the San Francisco County Jail on Saturday on fresh misdemeanor charges of illegally possessing a motor vehicle master key and giving false identification to a peace officer, as well as the arrest warrant for his escape from the Lake County Jail.
Further details of Preston’s arrest in San Francisco are currently unavailable, Bauman said.
Preston will remain in custody in San Francisco until extradited back to Lake County to answer for his escape charges, said Bauman.
On July 29 Preston was arrested by Clearlake Police and booked into the jail on charges of vehicle theft, receiving stolen property, and hit and run. Bauman said Preston also has a pending warrant out of Sonoma County and an open case with the Santa Rosa Police Department.
