A Butler man and his Clarion girlfriend were held for court Monday, Oct. 21, on charges alleging they planned his brief escape while a state police trooper walked him from the county jail to a district court office next door.

Damean M. Felmlee, 29, was held for court on felony escape and conspiracy to commit escape charges, and Heidi M. Boots, 25, of Clarion, was held on a felony charge of conspiracy to commit escape at their preliminary hearings before District Judge William Fullerton.

Trooper Codi Walker testified that Felmlee was placed in a transport belt with both hands locked at the Butler County Prison and she walked him to Fullerton’s former office on West Cunningham Street for a preliminary hearing on Aug. 19. His legs were not shackled because he had to walk, Walker said.

At that time he was facing a felony charge of criminal solicitation to commit criminal homicide and a misdemeanor charge of criminal solicitation to commit retaliation against a witness or victim. He originally was arrested on robbery, theft and false imprisonment charges relating to a robbery in May in Brady Township.

Walker said she had a case file in one hand and held on to Felmlee’s belt with the other hand until they got to the court office door, when she released her hand on Felmlee.

“I let go to open the door and he ran,” Walker said.

Walker said Felmlee ran around the right side of the building, through the parking lot, across West Diamond Street, behind LIFE Butler County and jumped a fence around a yard while being chased by herself and the son of the alleged victim in the case Felmlee was being taken to court to face charges in.

The son of the alleged victim caught up to Felmlee in the yard and tackled him to the ground, Walker said. After getting some help getting over the fence, Walker said she drew her gun and ordered Felmlee to put his hands behind his back. She estimated Felmlee’s escape lasted three or four minutes, but he managed to free one of his hands from the belt.

She said she later learned that the son of the alleged victim struck Felmlee, but he was checked for injuries at a hospital and taken back to Fullerton’s office for the hearing.

Following the escape, Walker said she received information from a corrections officer alleging that Felmlee planned the escape the previous week while he was in the Clarion County Jail for an unrelated matter.

She said she obtained recordings of seven phone calls between Felmlee and Boots, who had been in a relationship since 2018, in which she agrees to help him escape.

The pair planned the escape during each of those calls, Walker said. In those calls Boots agreed to meet Felmlee at a boat shop on Route 38 in Summit Township at 8 a.m. after he escaped custody, and that she would drive her father’s pickup truck.

She agreed to search the internet for the address of the shop, leave her cellphone at home and obtain another phone, Walker said. Boots gave Felmlee the number of another phone, she said.

Walker said Boots also agreed to go to Florida with Felmlee following the escape. She said she doesn’t know if Boots went to the shop to meet Felmlee, bought a second phone, borrowed her dad’s truck or searched for location of the shop because she discovered the plot after the escape occurred.

She said three corrections officers also witnessed the escape.

Felmlee’s remains in the Butler County Prison in lieu of $250,000 bond. Boots is being held in lieu of $100,000 bond. Their cases will be forwarded to Butler County Common Pleas Court.