LITTLE ROCK — A manhunt is under way in Lonoke County for two of three inmates who escaped from jail early Thursday morning in what authorities say may have been a coordinated effort involving other prisoners in the facility.
Troy Scott, 26, and Justin Cheney, 22, are considered dangerous after escaping from the Lonoke County Detention Facility just before 1 a.m. A third inmate, 24-year-old Kenneth Crain, also escaped but was recaptured later Thursday morning when Pulaski County authorities found him hiding in a closet at his mother's home.
Lt. James Kulesa said preliminary investigation shows the three escapees hid in an empty cell while a jailer escorted a group of inmates from one cell block to the showers. The jailer was then distracted by another group of inmates who claimed they needed medicine. The three men hiding in the empty cell were then able to slip out an unlocked door, Kulesa said.
Authorities believe the distraction by the other inmates may have been planned to allow the trio to get out, though the entire incident remains under investigation.
The jailer is not suspected of aiding in the escape, Kulesa said, but he may have made mistakes.
"Was their intentional neglect on part of the jailer? It doesn't appear to be," Kulesa said. "He's a fairly new jailer and of course we're going to look into everything. It may have been lack of training or bad judgment or inexperience."
At least part of the escape was captured on internal and external surveillance cameras at the jail. Investigators are reportedly examining that footage.
An intensive search around the jail has subsided, though Kulesa said authorities are maintaining a heightened patrol through the area and following up on leads elsewhere. Officers with the Lonoke Police Department, troopers with the Arkansas State Police and tracking dog teams from the Arkansas Department of Corrections assisted with the search and the sheriff's office called in off-duty deputies and investigators.
One dog team tracked Scott's scent to an apartment complex on Brown Street in Lonoke where he used to live, but lost the track there. Investigators believe Scott and possibly Cheney may have gotten into a vehicle at that complex.
Police have been in touch with families of both men, who Kulesa said have consented to searches.
Scott's family in particular has been "very cooperative," police said.
"They want him to turn himself in," Kulesa said. "His mother doesn't want anything to happen to him."
Scott is described as a black man who is about 5-foot-11, weighs 160 pounds and has brown eyes and black hair. Cheney is described as a white man who is about 6-foot-2, weighs 165 pounds and has hazel eyes and brown hair.
Scott and Crain had each been sentenced in Lonoke Circuit Court Wednesday to prison terms of at least 21 years for convictions of aggravated robbery and theft of property. Cheney was sentenced in May to 20 years in prison on charges of burglary and theft of property.
The lengthy prison sentences with additional penalties likely from the escape may make both men more desperate, Kulesa said. But he stressed the best thing for them to do is to turn themselves in.
"We don't want them hurting anybody and we don't want to hurt them," Kulesa said. "It's just a case now of trying to put some things together and try to figure out where they went and see if anybody gives us a call."
Crain was rearrested shortly before 4 a.m. when deputies with the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office went to his mother's home in the 2900 block of Bracy Road.
Lt. Carl Minden said Crain's mother answered the door. Deputies asked if her son was there.
"She started to cry and pointed to the back of the house," Minden said.
Crain was found hiding in a closet in the master bedroom and was arrested without further incident.
Lonoke Couny investigators interviewed Crain, but Kulesa said he was not forthcoming about the whereabouts of the others. He said they split up but also claimed to have ran from the Lonoke County jail to his mother's Little Rock home.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the remaining two escapees is asked to call (501) 676-3000 or (501) 843-2611.