As law enforcement continues to search for a man who escaped from Lowndes County Adult Detention Center over the weekend, officials have also released more information about how the inmate broke free.
Chief Deputy Marc Miley said this morning he believes Lowndes County sheriff’s deputies and Columbus police are closing in on 29-year-old Delvin Moore, an armed robbery suspect who escaped from jail at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
“We’ve had several leads that we’re following through on, but so far nothing has played out,” Miley said. “We feel pretty confident we’ll have him in custody soon. At least, we hope so.”
Columbus police arrested Moore following a reported armed robbery early Friday morning at the Sprint Mart at Highway 69 and Yorkville Road. He was also convicted of a 2013 armed robbery and burglary of an automobile in 2006.
Authorities say Moore is also a suspect in several other reported armed robberies over the past year.
Jail Administrator Rick Jones told The Dispatch Moore was in a temporary holding area on Saturday night that does not have its own restroom facilities. Jailers had escorted Moore to a restroom in another part of the jail, Jones said, where the inmate apparently gathered either paper towels or toilet paper and snuck it back into the holding area.
Moore then apparently stuffed the paper into the lock of his cell door to keep it from latching. Later, he pushed his cell door open and ran past guards at another door leading to the holding area — Jones said the guards had just opened that door to release another inmate. Then, Moore ran out the front doors of the jail.
Nine jailers were on duty at the time of Moore’s escape, Jones said.
“We’re conducting an internal investigation to see what protocols were not performed correctly, and then we’ll take corrective actions on that,” Jones said. “We’re also going to reevaluate the area where (Moore) was being housed.”
Jones didn’t rule out the possibility of the investigation producing grounds for “some disciplinary action” related to jail personnel. In any case, he said he wants to ensure the public the jail facility is secure.
“The building is still in good shape,” he said. “It’s still a reasonably safe jail.”
Meanwhile, Miley urged citizens to assist in finding Moore but to also exercise caution.
“If they see him, they don’t need to approach him,” Miley said. “They need to call 911 and try to keep a visual on him until we get there.”
Anyone with information on Moore’s whereabouts can also call Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers at 800-530-7151.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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