By: Shayla Terry

On last Thursday night Carlos Burnett, a Brantley native, escaped from the Crenshaw County Jail, but thanks to all county law officials, he was captured by Friday at noon.

Burnett, a former trustee at the jail, had been serving time on misdemeanor charges. He was made a trustee due to good behavior.

“He worked on work-release,” said Crenshaw County sheriff Mickey Powell,” “He even helped the county clean up some of the dump sites.”

According to Powell, Burnett received information about a pending warrant for his arrest in north Alabama for writing bad checks. He is believed to have escaped to avoid further legal troubles.

“He decided he did not want to go up there to deal with it,” Powell said. “The jail man had already called up there to try to figure how much his fine was so that he could pay it. He just got nervous and took off.”

Burnett escaped the jail between the hours of 10 and 11 p.m. on Thursday night. After alerting authorities county-wide, Powell says he thought they had pinned Burnett down at the Marathon gas station in Luverne.

“We got dogs and tried to track him down, but he had already left the area.” Powell said.

The authorities later found that his sister, Ashley Jones, had located Burnett. She harbored Burnett in her home on Thursday night. On Friday morning, Jones transported Burnett to the St. Charles Motel in Luverne. Jones has been arrested and charged with hindering prosecution in the second degree.

“We arrested him at the St. Charles Motel the next morning around 11 a.m.,” Powell said. “He didn’t give any problems; he just laid down and gave up. We transported him back to the Crenshaw County Jail.”

Burnett has been charged with second-degree possession of marijuana and second-degree escape. Had he finished out his sentence, Burnett would’ve been released on July 26.