Halfway house transport delayed, man escapes

A man escaped after hours-long delay in alerting authorities to his transport. Byron Roth was being transported from a halfway house in Sterling to Weld County, where he was facing criminal charges. Local authorities said they were unaware of the transport. Denver7 Investigates found that it took hours to alert the public after the suspect escaped. The state’s Division of Criminal Justice is now involved, requiring the halfway house to conduct a review of the incident and its policies and is also considering launching an investigation of its own. The car transporting Roth pulled over just outside Fort Morgan after he complained of feeling ill. Once the car stopped, Roth ran. He hasn’t been seen since, according to the Morgan County Sheriff. State Patrol said there is no record of anyone calling 911 after the escape. The Morgan County Sheriff’s Office, the county where the escape occurred, warned the public on Facebook at around noon the day of the escape, but State Patrol said the official law enforcement alert did not go out until after 4 p.m., nearly six hours after Roth ran. Hervey said the timeline raises red flags as no law enforcement agency, including Weld County, Logan County and Morgan County, were informed that a person in custody was being transported or had a warrant. She said that transporting people with warrants is “solely the responsibility of sworn law enforcement officers.” Advantage Treatment Center called this a “routine transport” in an email. But when asked why they did not involve law enforcement, the company declined to comment further. Advantage Treatment Center is hopeful that he will be quickly apprehended by the authorities and remanded to custody, where he will face charges for his conduct. They are currently reviewing internal policies and procedures and will review those results with oversight agencies and local law enforcement.

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a photorealistic news photo scene that fits this story: a man running away from a car on a road, with a distant farmhouse in the background, under a gray sky, with a sense of urgency in the air. No real or identifiable people, no text, no logos.

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Denver7 Investigates

source

KMGH-TV

date

2026-10-27

section

news

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