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SALT LAKE CITY — A man accused of shaving his head and posing as another inmate to escape the Weber County Jail faces a new federal charge.
Kaleb Wiewandt, 41, is charged in U.S. District Court with escape. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to five years in prison.
Wiewandt is currently in custody in Idaho and the process is underway to have him extradited to Utah. Prosecutors have requested Wiewandt remain in custody during his court proceedings.
Wiewandt was captured by U.S. marshals on Friday in Mountain Home, Idaho, just outside of Boise. He had been on the run since Feb. 25 when police say he pretended to be fellow Weber County Jail inmate Matthew Kyle Belnap, 36, of Pleasant View, memorizing all of his personal information.
Belnap was scheduled to be released from jail that day, but prosecutors say he allowed Weiwandt to take his place, possibly believing he could later point out the jail’s error and still be released himself.
Belnap, who was in jail for shoplifting, was charged Thursday in 2nd District Court with aiding and abetting an escape, and obstructing justice, both third-degree felonies.
Wiewandt was already being held in Weber County on a federal indictment of escaping from custody. Wiewandt was convicted on federal charges of mail and wire fraud in Arizona and was staying at the Geo Care Residential Reentry Center in Salt Lake City when he escaped, according to court records. He is scheduled to go to trial in that case in May.
