Five inmates who escaped a Missouri jail, including sex offenders, have been captured and taken back into custody. The stunning escape baffled nearby residents, as the facility had been known for its solid security in the past.
One person who lives near the facility remarked on the unusual nature of the escape, saying:
“I mean, five people all at once? That’s kind of crazy. It’s happened a couple of times before.”
Now, the Facebook account of the St. Francois Country Sheriff’s Department released a statement on the capture of the five runaways.
“Tucker, Sebastian and McSean are known sex offenders “being held for crimes committed while confined in the Missouri Department of Corrections Sexual Offender Treatment Center,” the sheriff’s department said. “Dakota Pace and Michael Wilkins were being held on felony warrants.”
Tucker was previously charged with the rape of a 12-year-old girl, while McSean was being held on charges linked to the sexual assault of a 39-year-old woman.”
According to STL Today, the escape was not necessarily a genius plan concocted by the inmates, but rather a fortunate stroke of luck and opportunity. Chief Deputy Gregory Armstrong said as much in a press conference following the escape.
“They just got lucky. It’s a black eye, of course, that we didn’t want. Sometimes things happen.”
As the story has been told, there was a cell in the block where the five inmates were being kept that was under repair for various plumbing issues, cell D-1. Somehow, the group managed to gain access to D-1 and detach the sink from the wall without alerting guards and then proceeded to climb through the hole in the wall to the outside.
From there, the gang found a ladder that had been left against a wall by the contractors earlier in the day and used it to climb off of the roof and the chase began.
Another lucky break for the five came in the form of a 2009 scion with a full tank of gas and the keys left inside, that was left only a mile away from the jail.
Witnesses said that the group member were “behaving rather strangely, which drew their attention.” This led to the downfall of the group as tips came flowing into the police and Marshall services that were on the trial.
In the end, after being caught the inmates were changed with Escape of Confinement, a Class E felony which carries a potential 4 year stint in prison. The group is being held without bail, of course.
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