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August 21, 2012

Whitley jail escapee captured in Tenn.

The Times-Tribune

CORBIN — By Charlotte Underwood / Staff writer

A Whitley County man who escaped from the Whitley County Detention Center last week was captured late Sunday evening by Tennessee authorities, according to Whitley County Jailer Ken Mobley.

Jessie Terry, 37, was captured around 7 p.m. Sunday at a residence on Fox Branch Road in Clairfield Tenn., by Claiborne County Tenn., Sheriff’s Deputies, according to Mobley.

Terry and another inmate, Ronald Tracey Sisk, 44, had escaped from the detention center around 5:15 a.m. last Sunday, Aug. 12. Sisk was later arrested in Williamsburg while Terry spent the week hiding from the law.

Terry had been in jail for receiving stolen property, theft over $500 and being a fugitive from another state.

The two had escaped by forcing a side security door open, according to Mobley.

“It’s been a long week,” Mobley said, explaining all the effort that went into searching for the inmates.

After the two escaped, Mobley, his deputies and the Williamsburg Police Department spent 17 hours in the woods searching until nearly midnight. Emergency Services Director Jerry Rains and Constable Ron Bowling also aided in the search that night.

During the week-long search, jail deputies, the Williamsburg Police Department, Bowling and Kentucky State Police conducted a three-day road check in the Kensee Hollow area near the Tennessee state line in search of Terry.

During that check, a total of 86 citations were issued, 18 arrests were made and nine vehicles and two ATVs were towed for various violations, according to Mobley, who said he wanted to thank all of the agencies that participated in the search and the road check.

“I especially want to thank the Claiborne and Campbell County, Tenn. Sheriff’s Departments and the Jellico Police Department as well. If it weren’t for the help of the Williamsburg Police Department, KSP and Constable Bowling, searching for Terry would have been much more difficult. I want to thank each of those departments and officers that showed up in Kensee Hollow. I would also like to thank the officers in Tennessee that we worked with to catch this escapee,” Jailer Mobley added.

Terry was transported to the Campbell County Jail on a trespassing charge. He will then be extradited back to Whitley County to be charged with second-degree escape, according to Mobley.

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