A former employee of a Mississippi jail has been charged with helping in the escape of an inmate who was later found barricaded last week inside a Chicago restaurant less than a mile from the Democratic National Convention, officials said.
The former employee, Ronnie Hunt, 32, who worked for the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Office, was charged with “escape of prisoners and conveying articles useful for the escape of prisoners,” said Bailey Martin, a spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety. He said that additional charges are possible.
Mr. Martin did not explain how the authorities believe Mr. Hunt, who was arrested on Saturday, aided in the escape of the inmate, Joshua Zimmerman, and he declined to comment further on the matter.
Surveillance video from the Mississippi courthouse that Mr. Zimmerman had escaped from showed him wearing plain clothes and walking out of a door with no handcuffs or shackles.
It was unclear if Mr. Zimmerman was being guarded by the police at the time of his escape or what security measures were in place to prevent inmates from leaving the building.
Mr. Hunt, who WREG-TV reported was fired from the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Office, was being held in a jail in Lafayette County, Mr. Martin said. The current felony charge he faces carries a maximum of 10 years in prison.
The inmate Mr. Hunt is accused of helping, Mr. Zimmerman, spent nearly 70 days as a fugitive after he escaped from the DeSoto County Courthouse in Hernando, Miss., on June 14.
Mr. Zimmerman was working at the Chicago seafood restaurant where he was found, the U.S. Marshals Service said. When the authorities tried to arrest him, he retreated into the ceiling and barricaded himself, leading to a 14-hour standoff. The establishment was near the United Center, where the Democratic National Convention was being held last week. He was arrested on Aug. 21 without incident.
Before his arrest in Chicago, Mr. Zimmerman was wanted in connection with a homicide in Texas, escape in DeSoto County, Miss., and absconding in Connecticut, according to the DeSoto County District Attorney’s Office. The courthouse in DeSoto County, Miss., is about 20 miles south of the Memphis downtown, and more than 500 miles from Chicago.
DeSoto County Sheriff Thomas E. Tuggle II told WREG-TV after Mr. Zimmerman’s escape that “the notion that he had help, that’s false. The notion that he had an extra set of clothes, that’s false. This is a career criminal. He knew what he was doing.”
Calls and messages to the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday were not immediately returned.