The Latest: 2nd of 2 Arkansas jail fugitives captured

Associated Press
Updated

PINE BLUFF, Ark. (AP) The Latest on the escape of two inmates from a county jail in Arkansas (all times local):

9 p.m.

Authorities say they've captured the second fugitive from a central Arkansas jail, a day after he and a fellow inmate were noticed to be missing.

U.S. Marshals spokesman Kevin Sanders said marshals and Arkansas State Police suspected Christopher Sanderson was hiding in the Ozark National Forest near Pelsor. They were establishing a perimeter around the forest Thursday when Sanderson called out to them and surrendered.

Sanders says the 34-year-old fugitive was severely dehydrated and was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Earlier Thursday, a deputy city marshal in Dover captured Wesley Gullett near the Ozark forest. That 30-year-old fugitive is president of the New Aryan Empire, a white-supremacist group accused of violence and drug trafficking.

Both had gone missing from the Jefferson County Detention Center in Pine Bluff.

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1 p.m.

Authorities say they've captured the leader of a white supremacist gang who escaped from an Arkansas jail earlier this week.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in eastern Arkansas says Wesley Gullett was captured Thursday in Pope County in western Arkansas. That's about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Pine Bluff, which is home to the Jefferson County Detention Center where Gullett and inmate Christopher Sanderson escaped earlier this week.

Spokeswoman Allison Bragg says Gullett was arrested by Dover police, but she did have not any details of what led to the capture.

Sanderson remains at large.

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8:50 a.m.

An Arkansas sheriff says two inmates, including the leader of a white supremacist gang, escaped from jail by placing "dummy bodies" in their beds to fool jailers.

The search continued Thursday for inmates Wesley Gullett and Christopher Sanderson. Jefferson County Sheriff Lafayette Woods Jr. says the men were last seen in the jail at about 8:30 p.m. Monday, and officials realized they were missing at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Woods says the pair put padding in their bunks to make it look like they were asleep, then climbed to the roof of the building and over a fence to escape.

Woods told the Pine Bluff Commercial that "several other inmates" tried to escape Tuesday but were quickly captured after a drone spotted them on the roof. An internal investigation is underway.

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Information from: Pine Bluff Commercial, http://www.pbcommercial.com