Hope House resident found with ingredients used to make an explosive device accused of absconding from facility

Lang
12/24/21

A Hope House resident is back behind bars after police say he absconded from the facility three months ago.

27-year-old Elisha Secrest was booked into the Johnson County Jail just before 8:15 Thursday morning. Court records show Secrest signed out of Hope House just after 4:30am on September 12^th to go to work at Panchero’s on South Riverside Drive. His expected return time was 3pm. Probation records show Secrest called the Coralville facility on multiple occasions that day to push his return time back to 5:45pm. A call was placed to Pancheros at 7:45pm after Secrest failed to return to Hope House, and an employee said he had left work at approximately 1:45 that afternoon.

Secrest was found at Soapy Waters on 22^nd Avenue in Coralville just after 5:45 Thursday morning. Coralville Police say he was in possession of methamphetamine and a meth pipe. He was arrested and charged with Possession of s Controlled Substance, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Escape from Custody. If convicted on all charges, he faces a maximum of 25 months in jail.

Secrest was sentenced to Hope House after he was found in downtown Iowa City in May of 2019 with multiple items used in making an explosive, including black powder, aluminum powder, fragments and fuel.

An explosives expert from the police force confirmed one of the items seized was an active device that contained all the elements of an explosive device wrapped in fragments. Also seized was handwritten paperwork listing multiple chemicals and labeled “Weaponized Chemical”.

Secrest is a former North Liberty resident who was arrested in 2014 after he threatened his girlfriend with a knife. The woman was able to turn the knife against Secrest and stab him. He reached a plea deal with prosecutors and was given credit for time served with ten days in jail.

Secrest was also arrested in June of 2013 after pulling a hunting knife on a woman and threatening to stab her during an altercation at the former Dolphin Lake Point Enclave on Highway 6 East. He was given a deferred judgment on weapons charges.