CARY, N.C. (AP) — Three of four inmates who overpowered two female corrections officers and escaped from an Ohio county jail were caught in North Carolina after slightly more than a day on the run, authorities in both states said.
The three men who escaped from the Gallia County jail early Sunday were “captured without incident” at around 2 a.m. Monday, a release from Cary police said. Christopher Clemente, 24, Brynn Martin, 40 and Troy McDaniel Jr., 30, are awaiting extradition to Ohio.
The fourth man, Lawrence R. Lee III, 29, is believed to have accompanied the other three, but he fled from authorities at the time of the arrests, a release from Gallia County Sheriff Matt Champlin said. Cary police said Lee is “not believed to be a danger” but warned the public not to approach him.
Cary police said the North Carolina Highway Patrol had alerted the department that the men were in the area, around 370 miles (595 kilometers) southeast of Gallipolis, the city where the jail is located. The two agencies, along with Raleigh police and the Wake County Sheriff’s Office, remained onsite for two hours after the arrests to “conduct a thorough search,” police said.
Champlin has said authorities believe the escaped inmates had help from at least one person outside the jail. The four inmates overpowered the two officers with a homemade weapon, forced open a secure door, entered the jail’s administrative wing and stole keys to a corrections officer’s vehicle and drove it about a block away, where another vehicle awaited them, Champlin said.
Champlin said authorities in Pennsylvania located the suspected getaway vehicle and believed Clemente was in the area, prompting the evacuation of the Westmoreland Mall outside Greensburg, Pennsylvania.
Clemente was being held for an indictment of two felony counts of complicity to trafficking drugs. Martin, who Champlin said escaped for the second time from the jail, is charged with breaking and entering, receiving stolen property, two counts of failure to appear, and escape — all felonies. McDaniel was being held for failure to appear from Gallia County Juvenile Court and Lee is charged with felony identity fraud and two misdemeanors: obstructing official business and assault.
