Law enforcement agents captured an inmate Tuesday evening who had escaped from the Daviess-DeKalb Regional Jail at Pattonsburg.
This website brought to you in part by the following sponsor:
Find out how to advertise here - Email us! [email protected]
Jail Administrator Larry Hadley said the prisoner escaped at about 8:40 p.m. on Monday, July 23.
John M. Rupp, 36, who had lived in the Amazonia area, was being held for the Andrew County Sheriff’s Department. On April 10, Mr. Rupp pleaded guilty to resisting arrest and was sentenced to 365 days in jail. He also faces a felony charge of attempting to deliver a concealed weapon into a jail.
Mr. Rupp had been taken out for recreation in the main area of the jail. He escaped by tunneling under the fence where the ground was soft from the recent rains.
"The officer took 31 out," Mr. Hadley said. "He miscounted bringing them back in. The prisoner was behind the corner, out of the officer’s sight."
The escapee apparently stashed his jail issued clothes, changed into street clothes, and took off on foot.
"It appears to have been a spontaneous decision," said Mr. Hadley. "There was no evidence of the prisoner having anything set up."
This is the second escape since the regional jail opened, both occurring in the past three months. The other prisoner escaped in May by climbing over a razor fence in the annexed area of the jail.
Mr. Hadley said that officer error has been the reason for both escapes.
"It doesn’t have anything to do with the smoking issue," he said. "If an officer takes 31 people out he’d better bring 31 back through the door. If an officer is neglectful, these guys will seize the moment of opportunity."
Mr. Hadley said he believes the jail is secure.
"It’s structurally sound," he said. "We don’t have too many fights or assaults on the staff. These inmates follow the rules. That being said, we also have a lot of officer complacency."
Mr. Hadley said Mr. Rupp did not have a history of violence, but he was considered an escape risk when he entered the jail.
"I and the staff have to get honed in to hardened criminal ways, even if it’s not a hardened criminal," he said. "And this last escapee was not a hardened criminal. It just goes to show you, they will take advantage of a staff that is not taking the situation seriously enough."
Mr. Hadley said he was assisted by the Daviess County Sheriff’s Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, and the Missouri Western Correctional Center’s dog team.
The dogs tracked Mr. Rupp south on Hwy. 69 to the off ramp of I-35, where the scent dropped.