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Fayette County Jail escapee nabbed at seedy Panama City, Fla. motel

By LEE WILLIAMS
lwilliams@TheCitizenNews.com

A convicted felon who escaped early last month is back in custody at the Fayette County Jail.

Acting on a tip, nine officials of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department and the Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force scoured the Panama City, Fla. beach Feb. 3 searching for the 36-year-old Timothy Allen Harrison.

After a three and half hour search, officers found Harrison at a seedy Panama City motel, Fayette County Sheriff Department Criminal Investigation Division Director Lt. Col. Bruce Jordan said Wednesday.
Jordan said Harrison allegedly had a stolen truck parked outside of the motel, and a full-sized Honda motorcycle at the foot of the bed.

“He took the lock and ignition assembly out of it and was working on it,” Jordan said. “The motorcycle was stolen out of Clayton County, and the truck was stolen out of Gwinnett County.”

The Senoia resident was being held at the Fayette County Jail on a laundry list of charges including theft by receiving stolen property, possession of burglary tools, Violation of the Georgia Controlled Substance Act, possession of a sawed-off shotgun, carrying a concealed weapon, giving a false name to an officer, driving on an expired tag, altered tag, driving on a suspended license and wrong license plate.

Harrison also was wanted by the Heard County Sheriff’s Department, the Lawrenceville Police Department and possibly the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Department when he shimmied up a basketball pole and pried a hole in an overhead jail fence to escape.

Harrison had been in the custody of the Fayette County Jail since his Dec. 9 arrest by the Fayetteville Police Department before his Jan. 5 escape. Harrison and two other people were arrested by Fayetteville police after they found a sawed off shotgun, burglary tools, methamphetamine, marijuana and CS gas in the car Harrison drove.

Harrison was nursing a broken jaw when authorities found him. He gave several stories detailing how he injured his jaw, authorities said. Jordan dismissed the theories offered, calling Harrison a “habitual liar.”

“One explanation might be that he did it coming off the roof,” Jordan said referring to the day Harrison escaped from the 2-year-old jail.

Harrison is a convicted burglar and an accused drug dealer who had strong ties to Gwinnett, Gilmer, Heard and Rockdale counties, and Tennessee. His alleged crime spree continued after he hit the Florida coast. His alleged drug pedaling days appeared to be far from over, authorities say.

“We suspect he was feeding himself through some type of criminal activity,” Jordan said.