An intense multi-agency manhunt is underway after five inmates — including three sex offenders — broke out of a Missouri jail through the plumbing system and fled in a stolen car earlier this week, officials said.
The car with temporary Missouri license plates was last seen traveling south.
The sheriff’s department said the inmates were seen removing their jail-issued orange jumpsuits and wearing white thermal leggings, white boxer or basketball shorts and white T-shirts. One of the men was wearing a black shirt.
The sheriff’s department on Wednesday enlisted the help of the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the United States Marshals Service to track down the suspects, who were described in bulletins as “dangerous” and “a flight risk.”
The US Marshals Service is offering rewards totaling up to $20,000 for information leading to the capture of all five fugitives.
The brazen escape involving four men and one transgender woman took place around 7 p.m. Tuesday at the St. Francois County Detention Center in Farmington. Their absence was discovered three hours later during the evening head count.
The St. Francois County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement that the fugitives — identified as Lujuan Tucker, Kelly McSean, Aaron Sebastian, Dakota Pace and Michael Wilkins — forced their way into a “secured cell.”
The inmates made their way up to the roof by crawling through the jail’s vents and plumbing pipes and eventually descended to the ground, NBC News reported.
Minutes later, the escapees were spotted on surveillance video stealing a dark gray 2009 Toyota Scion TC from a parking lot at the Centene Center at the Farmington Industrial Park, according to officials.
The inmates discarded their orange jumpsuits and were seen on camera wearing white thermal leggings, white boxers and/or basketball shorts and white T-shirts — with the exception of Tucker, who was wearing a black shirt, the sheriff's department said.
A statement from the Sheriff’s Department said the inmates eventually stole a gray 2009 Scion TC with Missouri temporary tags from the parking lot of the Centene Corporation — a nearby healthcare business — and were last seen "traveling in a southerly direction." "All inmates were being held on felony charges. Three inmates, LuJuan Tucker, Aaron Sebastian and Kelly McSean — AKA: Larry Bemboom — are known sex offenders being held for crimes committed while confined in the Missouri Department of Corrections Sexual Offender Treatment Center," the department said. "Dakota Pace and Michael Wilkins were being held on felony warrants." Investigators say each of the inmates discarded their orange prison clothing and were observed on surveillance cameras "wearing white thermal leggings, white boxer and/or basketball shorts and white t-shirts," while "Tucker was wearing a black t-shirt." The Marshals Service is describing each of the men as "dangerous," and authorities are asking anyone who spots them to keep distance and call 911.
The Marshals Service also said Tucker previously has been charged with the rape of a 12-year-old girl, while McSean was being held on charges linked to the sexual assault of a 39-year-old woman.
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