Manhunt suspect gets sentence two weeks after incident

Two weeks after a Topeka man led area law enforcement on a three-county manhunt after fleeing the Jackson County Courthouse, the man, now in custody, was ordered to spend five months in jail on a felony charge of interference with law enforcement in connection with the incident.

Matthew John Shipley, 33, admitted to Jackson County District Court Judge Norbert Marek during a Thursday hearing that he was under the influence of drugs at the time of the Feb. 22 incident, in which he fled the Jackson County Courthouse after being searched by a court security officer and was believed to have had “drug contraband” on his person at the time.

In the incident, Shipley was sought by Jackson County deputies, Holton police officers and Kansas Highway Patrol troopers in and around the south side of Holton, and it was suggested that he had returned to Topeka that day. He was apprehended south of Baileyville in Nemaha County that evening and returned to the Jackson County Detention Center.

Shipley, who was also considered a parole absconder and was wanted on an outstanding warrant from the Kansas Department of Corrections, spurred local law enforcement to lock their vehicles and homes that day, although it was later reported that he wasn’t known to be violent.

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