Final Inmate Caught After 6 Escape Tennessee Jail by Removing Toilet
No one was injured during the jail break, the sheriff said.
— -- The last of the six inmates who escaped from a Tennessee jail by removing a leaky toilet was caught today in Georgia, officials said.
Six inmates from the Cocke County Jail Annex in Newport, Tennessee, made the escape Christmas Day at around 1:30 a.m., the Cocke County Sheriff's Office said.
The final inmate to be caught was David Wayne Frazier, 54, who was considered dangerous, according to the sheriff's office. Frazier was taken into custody today in Forsyth County, Georgia, which is about 200 miles away from Newport, Cocke County Sheriff Armando Fontes said today. Frazier is being held at the Forsyth County Jail and will be extradited back to Tennessee after a waiver of extradition is signed, Fontes said.
The early-morning Christmas escape was prompted by a water leak behind a toilet, the sheriff's office said.
"The bolts holding the unit rusted out, and there was prior damage to the concrete due to plumbing repairs," the sheriff's office added.
The inmates removed the toilet from the wall, the sheriff's office said, and "gained access to a hole, which led outside of the facility."
No one was injured during the jail break, the sheriff said.
"I hope our court system makes an example out of these six individuals who all have criminal records with hopes that it will deter others from committing the act of escape," the sheriff said in a statement today. "The Cocke County Sheriff's Office has criminally charged four other individuals who assisted these escapees in various ways while on the run. We will continue to seek out any person who assisted these escapees in any way and will criminally prosecute them."
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