Clinton Orvill Swearingen II

The man who escaped from Deer Ridge Correctional Institution near Madras last month is back behind bars.

Law enforcement officers arrested Clinton Orvill Swearingen II in Portland Friday evening on suspicion of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and failure to obey a police officer.

A spokeswoman with the Oregon Department of Corrections said officers with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Protective Service made the arrest.

Homeland Security officials didn’t return calls for comment.

According to a Monday report in The Oregonian, the officers spotted Swearingen sitting against a wall outside the Pioneer Courthouse building with a backpack and other belongings Friday. The officers reportedly asked for his identification, but Swearingen ran and was tackled by the officers about three blocks away.

Swearingen, 31, was arrested and taken to the Multnomah County Detention Center, where he’s still being held, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Betty Bernt told The Bulletin on Monday.

Bernt said Swearingen is awaiting a transfer to the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville.

Swearingen went missing from Deer Ridge, east of Madras, at 10:30 p.m. May 4 after climbing a wire fence around the prison’s perimeter. His escape sparked a countywide manhunt. A vehicle he is accused of stealing after escaping was found near downtown Madras, and his prison clothes were found several blocks away.

Oregon State Police said he was spotted less than a week later in the town of Mill City, southeast of Salem, but the trail seemed to go cold afterward.

Swearingen had been booked into Deer Ridge on Feb. 4, on a Linn County conviction of first-degree theft, two counts of second-degree burglary and two counts of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

His earliest release date was Dec. 10, 2017, but that date is likely to be pushed back following his arrest Friday and possible new charges relating to his escape, Bernt said. She said there was no timeline yet for his transfer or when the new charges would be added to his sentence.

“Once he goes through the process, he’ll go back through Coffee Creek, and there will be a new assessment,” Bernt said.

— Reporter: 541-617-7820, eglucklich@bendbulletin.com