Wichita man, 55, arrested after leaving minimum-security prison, official says

A 55-year-old man, about halfway into his 31-month prison sentence, was arrested Friday night after being placed on “escape status” earlier in the day when he did not return from work to the Wichita Work Release Facility, the Kansas Department of Corrections said.

Kevin Todd Vester of Wichita was arrested by the Wichita Police Department after not returning to the minimum-security facility at 6:30 p.m., the KDOC said just after 11 p.m. Friday.

He remained at the Sedgwick County Jail on Saturday afternoon. He was booked into the jail at 5:21 a.m. Saturday.

Vester was transferred to the WWRF on Aug. 5 after starting his roughly 31-month prison sentence on July 29, 2024. He previously pleaded guilty to criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied dwelling and criminal threat. The incidents happened around 5:36 p.m. on Nov. 30, 2022, in the 1500 block of South Santa Fe.

A woman reported her ex-boyfriend banging on the door before he “fired a round through the front door,” a police report says.

Vester’s convictions in Kansas started in 1989 with a theft case in Reno County. He had four convictions the next year, including two counts of burglary, one of theft and one of aggravated escape from custody, according to KDOC records.

He has 13 total convictions in Kansas, KDOC records show.

The Wichita Work Release Facility, at 401 S. Emporia is an “all-male, minimum-custody state prison” with a capacity of 250 inmates, according to the KDOC. To be eligible to serve their sentences there, inmates must maintain full-time employment and pay room and board and other costs.

This story was originally published October 4, 2025 at 3:49 PM.