Posted: 7/6/04
Fugitive caught in La Crosse
By David Heiller
Argus News Editor
A Caledonia man who failed to return to the Houston County jail while on a job-hunting furlough on June 8 was arrested in La Crosse on June 29.
Thomas Elmer Ambuehl, 42, was arrested after a telephone tip of his whereabouts was given to the Houston County Sheriffís Office that morning. Authorities then called the La Crosse City Police, who picked him up.
Ambuehl was extradited to Minnesota on June 30, and appeared in court that morning on the charge of escape from custody, a felony.
Judge Robert Benson of Fillmore County, speaking via telephone, set unconditional bail at $60,000, which Houston County Attorney Richard Jackson had asked for. Benson was filling in for Judge James Fabian, who was not at the courthouse.
Jackson said Ambuehl was not a significant public safety risk. But the $60,000 bail request was appropriate, Jackson said, given that Ambuehl had fled at the front end of his 180-day sentence, and that he also faced two other charges.
Greg Schultz, Ambuehlís attorney, asked that bail be reduced to $20,000 unconditional and $10,000 conditional. He said that $60,000 was not within reach for his client, and that bail was a moot point anyway because Ambuehl would be serving the next six months in jail
No date for his next court appearance, a Rule Eight hearing, was set. The state will give notice at that hearing of what kind of evidence it has. Ambuehl could enter a plea then too.
Ambuehl had been released from the jail on June 8 to look for work in La Crosse, and did not return. It is considered a ìwalk-awayî by law enforcement people.
Ambuehl was convicted on February 2, 2004, of first degree driving while intoxicated, a felony. He started to serve his 180-day sentence on May 18. During that time, Judge Fabian granted him a furlough for job search.
Other charges
Two other court cases are also pending against Ambuehl .
In one case, he faces felony theft of property and felony criminal damage to property from an incident in which he allegedly stole parts from, and did $1,600 worth of damage to, a 1985 Dodge Ram Charger that was stuck on property in section 31 of Union Township in April of 2003.
The truck belonged to Michael Mueller of Mankato, who got it stuck while checking deer stands on his 118-acre property April 18-19. Mueller had left it on the property for a week. When he returned on the following weekend with equipment to free the truck, he found that it had been stripped and damaged.
Lieutenant Ken Frank of the Houston County Sheriffís Department traced four wheeler tracks over the private property, to the Ambuehl residence. An investigation led to the charges. Ambuehl pled not guilty to the charges on April 28. His trial is set for August 18, with a pre-trial hearing before Judge Robert Benson on July 21.
The other charge that Jackson referred to is for theft of services, also a felony. It alleges that Ambuehl stole electricity from Tri-County Electric at his home at 11698 County Road 20 from May to September of 2003 by attaching jumper wires inside the electric meter box at his home and bypassing the meter. This charge is pending an omnibus hearing, which was continued on May 26. No new date has been set.
The Ambuehls have since paid Tri-County Electric $1,400 for de-energizing costs, new hook-up costs, and unauthorized use of electricity from May-September, 2003.
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