Prison for Missouri Fugitive Who Rammed Stolen SUV Into 2 Lawmen
The oldest federal law enforcement agency, the US Marshals Service boasts 94 marshals who oversee 3,953 deputy marshals and criminal investigators nationwide. US Marshals Service photo by Shane T. McCoy.
A Missouri fugitive who injured two federal agents in late 2020 by ramming a stolen SUV into them gets to stay behind bars for the rest of the decade.
On Thursday, Aug. 18, in Kansas City, Senior US District Judge Howard F. Sachs sentenced Ray E. Clevenger, 47, to 10 years and 10 months in a federal penitentiary.
He’s been incarcerated at the medium-security US Penitentiary Leavenworth since New Year’s Eve in 2020, but the judge ordered him transferred to Federal Correctional Institution El Reno in Oklahoma or FCI Greenville in Illinois to undergo extensive drug and alcohol addiction treatment.
Clevenger’s court-appointed attorney did not return Coffee or Die Magazine’s messages seeking comment.
On Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, Missouri fugitive Ray E. Clevenger, 47, was sentenced to 10 years and 10 months in a federal penitentiary. He'll finish his sentence in either Federal Correctional Institution El Reno in Oklahoma or FCI Greenville in Illionis. Composite by Coffee or Die Magazine.
Clevenger had faced up to 20 years in a federal penitentiary and a $250,000 fine after pleading guilty on Jan. 5, 2022, to forcibly resisting the two deputy US marshals he injured, Jordan Rewald and Joshua Kohler.
Armed with a Missouri arrest warrant tied to a Jackson County shooting, on Dec. 30, 2020, a law enforcement team descended on a Quality Inn in Kansas City where Clevenger had holed up. As he and a woman entered a dark blue Ford Explorer SUV, the agents activated the lights on their cruisers and moved in to nab the wanted fugitive.
Thanks to Clevenger, the scene swiftly devolved into a demolition derby.
Clevenger slammed the truck into a squad car and peeled off, tires squealing as he tried to flee the parking lot. Kohler speared his SUV into the truck to keep the fugitive from escaping, spinning the vehicle, but Clevenger regained control and sped across the grass and motel sidewalk.
The oldest federal law enforcement agency, the US Marshals Service boasts 94 marshals who oversee 3,953 deputy marshals and criminal investigators nationwide. US Marshals Service photo.
Deputy US Marshal Nathan Ruebhausen’s vehicle blocked Clevenger, striking the SUV’s rear wheel well. So the fugitive doubled back and rammed Kohler’s SUV, plowing it into both a fence and Rewald’s vehicle.
And then Rewald’s vehicle pinballed into Rewald, who had left his seat to arrest Clevenger.
Clevenger’s crumpled SUV came to a stop, the air bag deployed.
Law enforcement moved in and arrested him.
Inside the stolen SUV, agents found a black Springfield Armory Model XD .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun loaded with an extended magazine with a dozen rounds inside and one in the chamber; a makeup case with 69 grams of methamphetamine and 4 grams of marijuana; two digital scales; and ledgers recording various transactions.
The oldest federal law enforcement agency, the US Marshals Service boasts 94 marshals who oversee 3,953 deputy marshals and criminal investigators nationwide. US Marshals Service photo.
The SUV Clevenger crashed went missing in Missouri’s Platte County a month before the melee in the motel parking lot.
His handgun was traced to a stolen firearms report issued by the Fargo Police Department in North Dakota.
Clevenger’s rap sheet dates back a decade and includes convictions for narcotics possession, tampering with a motor vehicle, and multiple firearms charges.
Angry that those criminal cases had hiked his chances for a lengthy federal prison sentence, on July 15 Clevenger penned a jailhouse letter to the judge, asking to both withdraw his guilty plea and fire his defense attorney.
The judge retained Clevenger’s lawyer and his plea agreement remained, too.
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Carl Prine is a former senior editor at Coffee or Die Magazine. He has worked at Navy Times, The San Diego Union-Tribune, and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He served in the Marine Corps and the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. His awards include the Joseph Galloway Award for Distinguished Reporting on the military, a first prize from Investigative Reporters & Editors, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.
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