An inmate serving an eight-year sentence for a drug, vehicle theft and firearm conviction who walked away from a conservation camp in Santa Clarita was apprehended Saturday in Riverside, authorities said.
Agents from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s Special Service Unit located Pete Vega, 34, at about 12:35 p.m. in a motel on University Avenue, officials said. He was taken into custody without incident.
Vega was taken to the California Institution for Men in Chino while his case is referred to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office for consideration of escape charges, CDCR officials said..
Vega was discovered missing about 8:30 a.m. Friday during a routine inmate count at the Francisquito Conservation Camp in the 35100 block of North San Francisquito Canyon Road, corrections officials said.
Vega was placed into CDCR custody in June after receiving an eight-year sentence in Riverside County for possessing a controlled substance for sale, being a felon in possession of a firearm and vehicle theft with prior vehicle-related theft convictions, corrections officials said.