(NewsSpace.com) – Jails and prisons have stringent security measures in place to help prevent convicts inside from escaping. However, sometimes, despite these efforts, some criminals end up breaking out of the jail itself or disappearing during work detail. One Indiana inmate managed to escape not once, but twice.
On Monday, January 8, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office issued a bulletin noting that 30-year-old Charles Gerstorff had walked off while working with other inmates at the City of Marion Animal Care and Control building around 7:50 a.m. local time. He fled into a nearby wooded area, and immediate efforts to locate him were unsuccessful.
The sheriff’s office explained the situation, saying Gerstorff’s placement on the work crew was an oversight. He was ineligible to work outside the jail due to another escape attempt while he was wearing an electric monitor as part of home detention. The supervising Sheriff Deputy at the time was “distracted and performing another task,” which allowed Gerstorff to leave the site unnoticed.
The sheriff’s office explained that the work crew is a “positive program” for Grant County that “assist[s] in cleaning up” the county “and helping non-profit organizations,” as well as helping to rehab the inmates. Officials said that they were reviewing the incident to determine “how this oversight occurred and taking extensive measures to minimize the possibility” of it happening again.
A warrant was issued for Gerstorff’s arrest on the count of escape, a level 5 felony. The suspect has many former charges, including violating probation, possession of paraphernalia, resisting arrest, and possession of meth.
Fortunately, Gerstorff wasn’t at large for long. At 9:43 p.m., the Grant County Sheriff’s Office revealed it had apprehended Gerstorff at a Motel 6, more than an hour from the job site from which he escaped. He is now likely to spend even more time behind bars.
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