BOISE, Idaho — Officials and Idaho court documents reveal that both suspects, who were arrested Thursday afternoon after being involved in a shooting and prison break at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, are gang-affiliated and have a long criminal past.
Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) Director Josh Tewalt said both suspects, IDOC prisoner Skylar Meade and Nicholas Umphenour, were members of the white supremacist prison gang the Aryan Knights.
KTVB learned from court documents that 31-year-old Meade was serving 20 years for shooting a Twin Falls Sheriff's sergeant during a 2016 high-speed chase when the Saint Alphonsus incident occurred.
The Boise Police Department (BPD) said Meade has prior convictions, including felony possession of a controlled substance, grand theft and introduction of contraband into a correctional facility.
Idaho's court database states that Meade's first criminal charges in Idaho were in 2010 when he was convicted of theft.
Umphenour, 28, was first charged with a crime in 2008 in Clearwater County. He has been convicted of other crimes since then.
Court records show in 2019, he was convicted of grand theft and unlawful possession of a weapon by a convicted felon and went to prison. He served 2 of his 5-year prison sentence and was released in 2024.
Tewalt said that both suspects were potentially connected, and the escape plan was possibly coordinated when the two were in prison together.
IDOC said the two suspects' housing overlapped from December 2020 through January 2024. During that time, both individuals were housed in an Idaho Maximum Security Institution and, at times shared the same housing unit.
On Thursday, both suspects were arrested in Twin Falls County and are being held at the Twin Falls County Jail.
Meade and Umphenour will be arraigned in Twin Falls County Court Friday at 1:30 p.m., according to Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs.
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