THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 7, 1995 TAG: 9503070266
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WINTON LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
The Hertford County Sheriff's Department is investigating the circumstances that led to last weekend's escape of three inmates - including one charged with murder - from the county jail.
All three were apprehended and returned to the jail shortly after they broke out early Saturday morning, said Hertford County Sheriff Windred Hardy.
``The way it looks at this point, it's negligence on the staff's part,'' Hardy said. Other possibilities, such as a broken door lock, are also being looked into, he said.
``If I find out that it is negligence on the staff's part, I'm going to take some drastic action,'' the sheriff said Monday afternoon.
The ``drastic action'' may include firings, he added.
The three men charged with felony escape were identified as Dye Shane Barndon, 18, of Ahoskie; Mitchell Arthur, 20, of Murfreesboro; and McMillin Adam Wesley, 19, of Como.
When the escape occurred, Barndon was awaiting trial on charges of felony restraint and assaulting a female. His bond is now set at $178,000, which includes $75,000 added for the escape charge.
Arthur was jailed after being charged with murdering his brother on Dec. 8. He allegedly shot his brother and then set a mobile home on fire, Hardy said.
In addition to first-degree murder, Arthur is charged with arson of a mobile home, injury to real property and use of a weapon of mass destruction. No bond has been set.
Wesley was charged in late 1994 with breaking and entering, larceny and injury to personal property. He is being held at the jail in lieu of a $90,000 bond - $15,000 for the earlier charges and an additional $75,000 for the escape charge.
Hardy said he received a call at his home about 4 a.m. Saturday, notifying him that the three had escaped from the county jail, located in downtown Winton behind the Hertford County Courthouse.
``Someone in the jail told me that they had heard them talking about making a telephone call,'' the sheriff said. He then sent Lt. Cadarye Jordan and Ahoskie police officer Ed Well to a telephone booth on U.S. 13, two miles away.
``When they got there, all three were at the phone booth. They placed them under arrest and brought them back,'' he said.
The three inmates escaped through a back door and crossed through a hole in a nearby barbed-wire fence, the sheriff said.
KEYWORDS: ESCAPED PRISONER by CNB