Officials looking for Vinita prison escapees
Ponca City Now - November 24, 2015 9:03 am
VINITA, Okla. (AP) – Police are searching for two convicts who escaped from a prison in Vinita.
An Oklahoma Department of Corrections spokesman says 37-year-old John J. Shepherd and 33-year-old Jason Pedro left the Northeast Oklahoma Correctional Center between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. Monday.
Records indicate Shepherd had been incarcerated since May 2013 for possession of a stolen vehicle and burglary tools. Pedro had been imprisoned since August 2014 for multiple convictions, including escape from arrest or detention, feloniously pointing a firearm, possessing a firearm after a felony conviction, uttering a forged instrument and two counts of possession of a dangerous substance.
The Tulsa World reports (http://bit.ly/1Sh9sZe ) that prison officials think the men walked off the minimum-security premises, but they’re still working to determine why they were outside and what route they took.
