{"id":401923,"date":"2026-07-17T06:31:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T06:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/401923\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T06:31:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T06:31:08","slug":"escaped-california-prisoner-who-was-captured-in-mexico-is-at-large-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/401923\/","title":{"rendered":"Escaped California prisoner who was captured in Mexico is at large again"},"content":{"rendered":"

A California inmate who was captured in Mexico after escaping from a prison camp is on the run again.<\/p>\n

Miguel Banuelos, 49, was initially reported as missing on July 4<\/a> when he left the Washington Ridge Conservation Camp near Lake Tahoe.<\/p>\n

Officials with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) began a search of the premises and nearby area, but he was nowhere to be found.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He remained on the run for two days before he was captured by Mexican authorities<\/a> at a home in Tijuana, Mexico.<\/p>\n

\"Miguel<\/a><\/p>\n

Miguel Banuelos, 49, is wanted after escaping from a prison camp near Lake Tahoe in Nevada County, California in July 2026. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)<\/p>\n

At the time, officials did not provide details on how Banuelos made the 600-mile journey from the prison camp to Tijuana.<\/p>\n

CDCR officials said Banuelos was expected to appear before an immigration judge before being processed through a port of entry and returned to a CDCR institution. But instead, he was released by a Mexican magistrate on July 10.<\/a><\/p>\n

On July 16, authorities are still searching for Banuelos and have issued a warrant for his arrest. He is 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs about 189 pounds. He has brown eyes and black hair.<\/p>\n

He was sentenced to seven years in prison in San Diego County on July 23, 2025, for the transportation or sale of a controlled substance and the possession or purchase of heroin\/cocaine exceeding four kilograms.<\/p>\n

He was later transferred to the Nevada County camp and was scheduled to be released on April 20, 2028.<\/p>\n

CDCR said that 99 percent of the people who have escaped or walked away from an adult institution, camp, in-state contract bed or community-based program placement have been apprehended.<\/p>\n

Anyone who sees Banuelos or knows his whereabouts should call 911, the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office at 530-265-1471 or OCS Special Agent Tim Keeney at 916-210-9159.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

\u00a0For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A California inmate who was captured in Mexico after escaping from a prison camp is on the run…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[161243,7,9,8,26186,871,34007,2457,27047,161265,4931],"class_list":["post-401923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-banuelos","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-cdcr","tag-lake-tahoe","tag-mexican-authorities","tag-mexico","tag-nevada-county","tag-prison-camp","tag-tijuana"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}