Daggett Jail escapee pleads guilty to gun charge

A convicted killer who escaped from the Daggett County Jail last year pleaded guilty to a federal gun charge Monday.

Danny Martin Gallegos limped into the U.S. District courtroom with a brace on his leg where he was shot by police after spending nearly a week on the lam.

As part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, Gallegos pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a firearm by a felon. Two other charges of carjacking and possessing stolen firearms were dropped.

The charges stemmed from Gallegos' Sept. 29, 2007, escape from the rural Utah jail where he was serving a murder sentence for killing 18-year-old Tammy Snydergaard.

Gallegos and another inmate, Juan Carlos Diaz-Arevalo, slipped through an unlocked door at the jail, scaled a fence and jumped off the roof to escape, police said.

Following the escape, the two men tied up a retired police officer and stole his sport utility vehicle, according to court documents. When the men were arrested nearly a week later in Wyoming, police said the inmates were in possession of possessed two stolen handguns and a stolen rifle.

Gallegos could face up to 10 years in federal prison for the charges when he is sentenced Jan. 6.

Gallegos and Diaz-Arevalo have already pleaded guilty to state escape charges.

— Aaron Falk