For less than one day of freedom, jail escapee Richie Pablo Garcia, 20, of Safford will now have an additional three years in prison added to his sentence.

Garcia was sentenced Monday by Superior Court Judge R. Douglas Holt to spend four-and-a-half years in prison and four years of probation upon his release.

Most of the sentence was stipulated in Garcia's plea agreement he signed July 12. On that date, Garcia pleaded guilty to theft of a means of transportation – a class-three felony, aggravated DUI – a class-four felony, unlawful flight from pursuing law enforcement and escape in the second degree – both class-five felonies, attempted hindering of prosecution in the first degree – a class-six felony, DUI – a class-one misdemeanor, and an additional charge of escape in the second degree for when he broke out of the Graham County Jail early in the morning of March 30. He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years on the theft of means of transportation charge and a consecutive sentence of two years for his last escape charge. All of his other charges have concurrent sentences.

Richie Pablo Garcia

Garcia had signed a plea agreement and was in jail awaiting his sentencing when he scaled a wall in the sally port area on the jail's north side and traversed some razor wire. That plea agreement – which stipulated Garcia serve 1.5 years with four years of probation – was rescinded after he escaped from the jail.

Even though he had previously pleaded guilty to charges of unlawful flight and escape, Garcia was still classified as a work-eligible inmate and served in the jail's laundry department.

At the time of his escape, Garcia was in the jail's "honor pod," which houses inmates with good behavior who either perform work for the jail or are in one of its programs – such as attending education classes. Inmates are offered incentives to be housed in the honor pod, including many amenities not available in the other units.

After leaving the jail, he fled to Casa Grande with a former girlfriend, Jessica Renee Dorame, 24. Dorame was subsequently charged with hindering prosecution but claims she thought Garcia had been let out of jail and did not know he had escaped. The couple were caught in a Casa Grande hotel by Pinal County Sheriff's Office deputies.

In addition to the longer sentence, Garcia will have to pay more than $5,000 in fines and fees (not including a monthly probation charge), complete an alcohol evaluation and treatment at the discretion of his probation officer and attend a victim impact panel.

Garcia was given credit for 291 days served on his first six charges and 118 days’ credit for his last escape charge. He can also have one day removed for every seven served for good behavior. That means Garcia could be out of prison in less than three years.