Sunday, Feb. 13, 2005 | ||
Bad Links? | You can run but you cant hide.By LEE WILLIAMS You can run, but you cant hide. Thats the message nine officials of the Fayette County Sheriff Department Criminal Investigation Division and Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force sent to 36-year-old Timothy Harrison when they barged into his filthy hide-out in Panama City Beach, Fla. and scooped him up. Harrison, a career criminal and former Senoia resident, shimmied up a basketball goal and pried through an overhead fence in the exercise yard and escaped from the Fayette County Jail on Jan. 5. Several hours passed before jail officials discovered the jail break. It was the first such incident since the state-of-the-art facility opened in 2003. But now Harrison, a reported dangerous drug and weapons felon is back in custody and sheriffs and jail officials are ecstatic. He returned to the Fayette County Jail Tuesday, escorted by authorities. Acting on a tip, the officers scoured the Panama City Beach area on Feb. 3 searching for Harrison. After a three and half hour search, officers found Harrison at a flea bag motel, Fayette County Sheriffs CID 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 his hotel 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 Sheriffs Department, the Lawrenceville Police Department and possibly the Gilmer County Sheriffs Department. Harrison had been in the custody of the Fayette County Jail since his Dec. 9 arrest by the Fayetteville Police Department before his escape. Harrison and April Chappell of Senoia were arrested by Fayetteville police after they found a sawed off shotgun, burglary tools, methamphetamine, marijuana and tear 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, he said. The distance from the top of the jail exercise yard and the ground is about 10 feet, officials said. 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. Authorities will now add escape and two counts of theft by taking motor vehicle to the bevy of charges pending against Harrison. While some residents are thankful Harrison is caught, they say they want assurances from Fayette County Sheriff Randall Johnson that the way the matter was revealed to the public will never happen again. Denise Fair, a 50-year-old nurse and avid jail opponent who lives near the jail, said she and her neighbors were not notified about the escape. And Fair who is concerned about the safety of the children who live in the community is not happy. Her son who likes to play in the woods near their home told her a man was staring at him in the woods around the time of the escape. A neighbors son made the same report. Fair dismissed the stories at first, but now, she wonders. She said Johnson should have notified the neighbors through fliers at once regardless of whether officials deemed Harrison an immediate threat. Jail officials said they did not go door-to-door with the news because they suspected Harrison left the area immediately. Harrison reportedly hopped in a waiting pick-up truck and fled to Atlanta and then to Panama City Beach, Fla., where he was captured Thursday, officials said. That fact did little to console Fair who said she felt Johnson let the community down. That should be as important as the Amber alert, Fair said. "The public has a right to know. We pay our taxes and we expect the sheriff to protect us and keep us informed. Maj. Robert Glaze, the jail director, spoke candidly about the matter shortly after the break. He said he hated that the incident happened and vowed to reprimand deputies responsible for the jail break. Johnson, however, declined to comment, his spokeswoman Lt. Belinda McCastle said. Fair, who lobbied unsuccessfully for the new jail to be built on the outskirts of the county, indicated she was not surprised by the silence. All I can say is, I told you so. Its going to happen again, Fair said. He was just confident that nobody would break out of his jail and thats why he doesnt want to comment because hes publicly embarrassed. In situations like these, silence might not be best, Fair indicated. He needs to respond, Fair said. Thats his obligation to the public. If he doesnt want to respond, he shouldnt be in charge. We want to know what measures are being taken to prevent this from happening again. |
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