Law Enforcement Pursues Fugitive Into Overton

By VERNON ROBISON

Moapa Valley Progress

The Moapa Valley community and the northern end of Lake Mead were the setting of a man hunt last week. Several law enforcement agencies teamed up in searching for Adam Wayne Hopper, a 36 year old fugitive who was believed to be hiding out in the area. Involved in the search were the National Park Service Rangers, BLM rangers and Las Vegas Metro Police.

Though Hopper was sited several times in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, and again in Overton; as of Monday morning he had not been located by law enforcement officers. Police believe that he is no longer in the area.
“We are no longer conducting an active search for him in the community,” said Officer Cory Estes of the Metro Overton Resident Section on Monday morning. “We believe that he has left the area and we have now turned the case over to our Criminal Apprehension Team in Las Vegas.”

Hopper was stopped on Feb. 4 by Boulder City Police in a routine traffic stop. He fled from the scene, however, and entered the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Boulder City Police did not pursue him.

In the middle of last week, the National Park Service Rangers found Hopper’s vehicle abandoned along the roadside near Echo Bay. They ran a routine check on the license plates and found that Hopper was wanted on a weapons charge out of the State of Maine.

On Wednesday, Hopper was spotted by a Park Ranger at Echo Bay. But he reportedly fled from the ranger and escaped on a stolen side-by-side OHV.
On the OHV, Hopper was able to evade ground-based law enforcement because he was able to flee to areas inaccessible by standard police vehicles.

However, Hopper’s movement was followed, for a time, by a police air unit. The helicopter followed the subject as he travelled north from Echo Bay toward Stewarts Point. But the helicopter had to break off the pursuit for a time to refuel. Contact with the subject was lost.
Park Rangers later made a thorough search of the Stewarts Point area but were unable to locate the subject.

Hopper reportedly got a ride in to Overton and was sited at the Overton Park and again at the Library.
From there he is believed to have contacted an acquaintance in the Las Vegas area who then came to pick him up.