Fla. Escapees Recaptured While Waiting for Ride

More arrests coming, authorities promise
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 21, 2013 2:22 AM CDT
Fla. Vows to Find Forger Who Freed Murderers
This police booking mug shot provided by the Bay County Sheriff's Office shows escaped convict Charles Walker.    (AP Photo/Bay County Sheriff's Office)

After the recapture of two murderers who walked free from Florida prisons with forged documents, state officials are doing their best to avoid further embarrassment. Officials say that associates who helped Joseph Jenkins and Charles Walker in the ruse are being sought and there will definitely be more arrests, reports the Orlando Sentinel. The state is also reviewing its procedures and from now on, clerks in the prison system will ask judges to verify early-release documents instead of relying on paperwork.

The two men "had to have had help, and a lot of help, to get to where they were," says Florida's top law enforcement official, adding that the men were awaiting transport to another state when they were recaptured at a motel. He says two earlier inmate attempts to gain early release with forged papers were foiled by routine screening, and investigators are looking into reports that phony documents could be obtained for $8,000, Reuters reports. (More Joseph Jenkins stories.)

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