RENO COUNTY – Kevin James Snyder, 59, a sexually violent predator who escaped from Larned State Hospital last week, was arrested Tuesday in Yoder, Kansas, according to the U.S. Marshals Service, District of Kansas.
At about 5 p.m. Tuesday, a farmer driving a tractor spotted Snyder along a rail line near Yoder and reported it to law enforcement. Members of the U.S. Marshals Kansas Fugitive Apprehension Task Force arrested Snyder, and he was booked into the Reno County Jail.
Early on the morning of Nov. 5, Snyder escaped from the Sexual Predator Treatment Program at Larned State Hospital. He was last seen on security cameras that morning in Larned, heading east on foot.
Snyder has been designated a sexually violent predator since a 2005 conviction in Lyon County, according to the Kansas Offender Registry.
The U.S. Marshals Service helped the Pawnee County Sheriff's Office with the search. The Kansas Fugitive Apprehension Task Force includes the Marshals Service, Kansas Department of Corrections, Wichita Police Department, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Homeland Security Investigations, Drug Enforcement Administration and Kansas Highway Patrol.
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Pawnee County Attorney Doug McNett announced Tuesday evening shortly after 5 p.m. that Kevin James Snyder is now in custody after being captured in Yoder. More details will be released as they become available.
Snyder, 59, absconded early during the morning of Nov. 5 from the Sexual Predator Treatment Program located on the campus of Larned State Hospital. The last confirmation of Snyder still being on the state hospital campus was at 3:38 a.m., according to the sheriff's office. Snyder was seen on surveillance cameras walking north towards the hospital's water tower. The fugitive was last seen on security cameras in the 300 block of West 14th Street in Larned, at approximately 5:37 a.m., heading east on foot.
Snyder has been listed as a sexually violent predator since a conviction in 2005 in Lyon County, according to the Kansas Offender Registry.
According to online court records, Snyder was also convicted in a 1989 Lyon County case on charges that included aggravated sodomy, and two counts of indecent liberties with a child. He was sentenced for 7-25 years on the first count, and 4-15 years on each of the other two counts, with part of that sentence to be served consecutively. The charges stem from incidents involving a 9-year-old child that took place between June of 1987 and January of 1988. According to the Kansas Department of Corrections Repository website, he was paroled on those charges in August 2004.