A Nebraska inmate in a minimum-security prison had a one-hour pass to attend church in May 2019 and disappeared for four years before the law caught up with him last month.
Law enforcement found the escapee, Antonio Collier, 800 miles away in Roseville, Michigan, where he was arrested on a felony escape warrant on June 10.
About an hour after his pass expired, Collier allegedly told the correction officers that he was running late because of car trouble, according to a probable cause affidavit for the arrest warrant.
However, he never returned to Community Corrections Center-Lincoln, where he was serving time for a felony burglary conviction. He had a parole hearing scheduled for February 2020, according to jail records.
MANHUNT FOR ESCAPED PA JAIL INMATE, MURDER SUSPECT CONTINUES
Law enforcement did not say how Collier was discovered and arrested, but he remains in Macomb County Jail in Mount Clemens, Michigan, awaiting extradition back to Nebraska.
He will finish his four-to-five-year sentence for burglary that started in April 2018, which is now projected to end in September 2024, jail records show.
Then he will be prosecuted for prison escape, which is a class three felony in Nebraska and carries a two-to-four-year prison sentence, if convicted.
The Nebraska jail that Collier left is one of two community custody facilities in the state and allow low-level inmates to leave the facility to participate in work opportunities, attend school and go to religious services without supervision.
Once given approval, they are given a pass for a specific amount of time.
