Virginia: 4 convicts flee from Prison, search is on
Four prisoners were reported missing early on Saturday morning from a federal minimum-security facility in Hopewell, Virginia.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons reported that about 1:45 a.m., four convicts, ages 41, 44, 30, and 46, were missing from the satellite camp of the Federal Correctional Complex in Petersburg. Their names were Corey Branch, Tavares Lajuane Graham, and Lamonte Rashawn Willis.
The event was reported to the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, and other relevant law enforcement organisations. According to the press statement from the Bureau of Prisons, an internal inquiry has been initiated.
Branch was serving 160 months for felony weapon possession and possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute.
Graham was given a 120-year sentence for possessing 500 grammes or more of cocaine and 28 grams or more of cocaine base with the intent to distribute them. According to the agency, he was also given a term for having a weapon during the commission of a narcotics trafficking offence.
Willis had been convicted of two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and one count of having a stolen firearm, and was serving a 216-month sentence for both of these crimes.
Shaw received a 194-month term for his role in a plot to possess and distribute a large amount of heroin.
Anyone with information is encouraged to call the U.S. Marshals Service at (804) 545-8501.
According to the Bureau of Prisons website, the minimum security jail now has a capacity of 675 detainees, including 185 from the satellite camp.
