New York Prison Escapees Evade High Tech Dragnet
More than two weeks after they escaped, no clear signs of convicted murderers.
— -- New York prison escapees Richard Matt and David Sweat have somehow managed to evade the arsenal of high- and low-tech tools authorities have deployed in the manhunt for the fugitives.
"The more you plan, the luckier you are," former New York Police Department Sgt. Joe Giacalone told ABC News today. "These guys, they played [prison worker] Joyce Mitchell like a fiddle and they're playing the cops like a band now."
Giacalone worked and supervised hundreds of investigations, including homicides and missing persons. He has been an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City since 2005.
Mitchell, who has been charged with aiding Matt and Sweat in their June 6 escape, has entered a not-guilty plea to the felony charge of promoting prison contraband and a misdemeanor count of criminal facilitation for allegedly helping the inmates escape from Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York, near the Canadian border.
During the more than two weeks since their escape, authorities have swept the rural area, deploying bloodhounds and human spotters. Sources have also confirmed to ABC News that the FBI has lent air assets with night vision to the search efforts.
How two men who presumably broke out of prison without a cellphone or credit cards have managed to avoid leaving an immediately detectable trail has confounded authorities.
"They are using state-of-the-art infrared tech like they use on the battlefield and you can hide anywhere you want but you can't evade that unless you're in a basement in a house," Giacalone said.
Over the weekend, the dragnet focused on the town of Friendship, in western New York, as authorities chased a possible sighting of the two fugitives.
A witness called police saying she spotted two men who fit the description of Matt and Sweat on a railroad line along Route 20 in Friendship near the Pennsylvania border Saturday at 1:16 p.m., New York State Police Major Michael Cerretto said at a news conference.
Among the resources used in the search were aircraft, according to authorities, while K-9 and special operations teams led the ground charge along I-86 and Route 20 in area more than 400 miles away from the Clinton Correctional Facility.
As authorities chase down leads, Giacalone said it's important no assumptions are made about whether the two men may be receiving help on the outside.
"Hope is not a plan," Giacalone said.
As the frustration of a third week searching sets in, Giacalone said he expects the reward for the arrest of both men, currently at $100,000, will be increased.
"They are probably thinking, 'We have nothing, maybe they need to entice a little more,'" he said. "They’re already desperate. Heads are going to roll on this thing."
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