Man sentenced to 15 months for escape from halfway house

FARGO, N.D. — A Minnesota man who walked away from a Fargo halfway house has been sentenced to 15 months in prison.

Chad Sumner is charged with escape. Authorities say he was serving the last few months of a three-year sentence for child endangerment when he fled from Centre, Inc. on Jan 16. He was scheduled to be released from custody on March 2.

Authorities say Sumner cut the strap from his electronic monitoring device and threw it in a garbage bin at a Fargo gas station. He was arrested in Red Lake, Minnesota, on Feb. 8.

U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson recommended that Sumner be allowed to serve his sentence "in local confinement if possible."