A Chester County inmate whose escape inspired Danilo Cavalcante was sentenced to state prison

The West Chester man whose acrobatic escape from the Chester County Prison last spring was copied months later by the elusive fugitive Danilo Cavalcante was sentenced Thursday to 18 to 60 months in state prison.

Igor Bolte, 31, pleaded guilty to one count of escape during a brief hearing before Chester County Court Judge Patrick Carmody, according to his attorney, Javier Secaira. Secaira declined to comment on the outcome of the case.

Bolte was housed in the county jail alongside Cavalcante, 34, who at the time was awaiting trial for killing his ex-girlfriend, Deborah Brandao, in front of her children.

When Cavalcante escaped in late August, a week after being sentenced to life in prison for Brandao’s murder, he “crab walked” up a narrow wall in one of the jail’s exercise yards and ran across the building’s roof, as depicted in a surveillance video released by county officials that quickly went viral.

That unusual technique had been pioneered by Bolte, an experienced rock climber who employed the same method to begin his brief flight from the facility — guards found him about five minutes later hiding in the swimming pool of a nearby home in Pocopson Township, according to court records.

Cavalcante’s time away from the jail lasted much longer: He led hundreds of law enforcement officials from local, state, and federal agencies on a 14-day manhunt across the county, during which he hid in dense forest and survived on creek water, produce and other items stolen from homes in the area.

The Brazilian native is awaiting trial on an escape charge, as well as burglary, theft, criminal trespass and related crimes while he serves his life sentence on the murder conviction.

» READ MORE: Two weeks on edge: How law enforcement tracked down an escaped murderer in Chester County

Bolte had been in custody in May for violating his probation in a 2019 aggravated assault case for punching a police officer, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest in the escape. When he stealthily made his way out of the prison, he was filmed by security cameras, as he placed his feet on one wall, his hands on the other, and climbed “in a horizontal position,” until he reached the roof, the affidavit said.

He then climbed down from the roof and was seen running past a security station near the prison’s front entrance. An officer posted near the exercise yard saw Bolte and notified the other guards that he had escaped, the affidavit said.

Homeowners who lived nearby, including James Cleare, notified the jail that they had seen Bolte running past their properties. Police officers found Bolte in a backyard pool about a half-mile from the facility.

Bolte later told police his plan was to run back toward West Chester, where he knew he could find aid.

Bolte made a similar escape from the prison facility years earlier. In July 2019, a month after pleading guilty in the aggravated assault case, Bolte escaped from a lower-security work-release center located near the main prison, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest in that case. Bolte ran out of an unlocked door and scaled a fence.

He broke out of confinement, his attorney wrote in a presentencing memorandum, because he felt threatened by fellow inmates. Bolte, a native of Russia who was adopted by a Pennsylvania family when he was 10 years old, suffers from PTSD due to childhood trauma, his attorney, Michael Skinner, wrote.

Bolte ran into a wooded area near the prison, leading state police and county detectives on an hours-long chase, the affidavit said. He eventually surrendered, waving his arms to a police helicopter overhead to signal them.

For that escape, Bolte was sentenced to nine to 23 months in prison and one year probation, court records show.