A Tennessee inmate who escaped from the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville last month appeared in federal court Monday, WBBJ reported.
Jacob Allen Morley was serving a life sentence at the Lake County prison when, according to records, he was unaccounted for during an inmate count at about 11:30 p.m. on Oct. 25. Surveillance video showed him wearing a facility uniform and getting through the fence.
According to a federal affidavit, investigators later learned Morley had traveled to Marion, Illinois, where he stole a white Ford F-350 pickup that had two rifles and a shotgun inside. The truck's license plate was entered into a plate reader system, and several readers near Liberty, Missouri, recorded hits.
Task force members, members of the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department's Career Criminal Unit and a deputy U.S. marshal searched the Liberty area and found the truck in a store parking lot. Morley was identified as the driver.
The affidavit says Morley drove off, with officers following in unmarked vehicles and a Kansas City police helicopter overhead. He turned onto a gravel county road near Norborne, Missouri, drove off the road and got stuck in mud. Task force members gave him verbal commands, and he got out and was taken into custody without incident.
Morley admitted to escaping the prison and to stealing the truck and the three firearms found in the back seat, according to the affidavit.
He is charged federally with being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition. Investigators listed a 12-gauge shotgun and two scoped rifles among the guns found in the truck, along with 69 shotgun shells. An arrest warrant was also issued accusing Morley of traveling across state lines to avoid prosecution.
The Northwest Correctional Complex is a Tennessee Department of Correction prison in Lake County, in the far northwest corner of the state.
Sources: WBBJ; federal court affidavit; Tennessee Department of Correction