Dog trainer’s bond set at $100K

A woman charged with helping a convicted killer escape from prison was returned Thursday to Kansas, where she made her first appearance in court.

Toby Young, 48, was being held in the Leavenworth County Jail on $100,000 bond on felony charges of aiding and abetting aggravated escape and aiding a felon.

John Manard, 27, the inmate she is accused of helping to escape from the Lansing Correctional Facility, also returned to the prison by vehicle from Tennessee, where the couple was captured Feb. 24.

Young was brought to the jail late Wednesday after being escorted by officers who flew with her aboard a commercial airline from Tennessee, Leavenworth County sheriff’s spokesman Leonard Ayres said. On Thursday morning she had a brief appearance before District Judge Frederick Stewart. She told Stewart she intended to hire her own attorney.

Stewart ordered Young to return to court at 9 a.m. today with her attorney to set a preliminary hearing date. Her bond was set at $100,000 later in the afternoon.

Manard was returned to the prison about 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

He was driven back from Tennessee by Kansas Department of Corrections personnel, said Bill Miskell, spokesman for KDOC.

Miskell also said Manard would be placed in “administrative segregation,” which means he’ll be locked alone in a single cell for 23 hours a day. He will be allowed out of his cell one hour a day for exercise but will remain handcuffed and in the presence of at least one guard.

Debra Owens, spokeswoman for the Leavenworth County Attorney’s Office, declined to say what charges Manard might face.

Manard was serving time for a 1996 murder in Johnson County.

Young operated the Safe Harbor Prison Dog program, in which Manard was a participant. KDOC and law enforcement investigators think Manard escaped by hiding in a dog crate in Young’s van as she drove out of the prison.

The two were found Feb. 24 by U.S. Marshals in Chattanooga, Tenn. They were captured after a 40-mile high-speed chase. Authorities said the two had been staying in a remote cabin 90 miles north of Chattanooga.