Man gets 21 months for carjacking attempt after federal prison halfway house escape
A resident of a federal halfway house who threatened and tried to carjack two women at a Wichita convenience store after he walked away from the facility in 2019 was sentenced Friday to just under two years in prison.
It appears that Randy D. Sturgis has already spent enough time in jail, however, to fulfill the 21-month prison term. That means he could go free after the Kansas Department of Corrections does the math unless he has other sentences to serve.
Sturgis, 36, was a resident of Mirror Inc. Residential Re-entry Center when he approached the women while they were pumping gasoline at the QuikTrip at 3820 N. Rock Rd. on on Oct. 9, 2019, told them he had escaped from federal prison and needed a ride.
Authorities at the time said when the women refused, Sturgis told them he had a knife and tried to force them into their car.
The women got away and called for help, while Sturgis took off on foot after he couldn’t leave in their vehicle. He was arrested shortly after.
Sturgis pleaded guilty in March to attempted robbery and was sentenced on Friday to 21 months in prison, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.
But because he’s been in custody since his Oct. 9, 2019, arrest, he will receive 660 days of credit toward the prison term, court records show — more than the 21 months he ultimately was ordered to serve. That means he won’t do any additional time in custody on the case.
“Sturgis is in KDOC custody as of sentencing last Friday,” Dan Dillon, spokesman for Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett’s Office, said by email. “Once KDOC gets the journal entry they will do the sentence computation. He has enough jail credit that he is very close to serving his sentence and then will go on post-release supervision.”
He will spend a year on post-release supervision, court records show.
Sturgis was the second Mirror resident to escape the facility and commit attacks on strangers in just more than two weeks that year. In the days before Sturgis took off, Wade Dunn left the halfway house on an itinerary pass and didn’t return as required.
During his Sept. 23, 2019, absence, Dunn stabbed a 30-year-old Wichita woman at least 30 times in front of her home, a crime that landed him in prison for more than 24 years.
