Law enforcement agents from across the area are searching for an escaped Calhoun County inmate after his getaway vehicle was found in Oktibbeha County.
Oktibbeha County Sheriff Steve Gladney said deputies discovered a stolen Calhoun County Sheriff’s Department cruiser abandoned on a logging road off Shuffield Road, near A.W. Williams Road, in the Maben area at about 8:30 p.m. Sunday.
Daniel Easley, 38, allegedly stole the police cruiser during a Sunday afternoon escape from the Calhoun County Jail. Easley was in custody at the time on a burglary charge, Calhoun County Sheriff Greg Pollan said, and now faces charges for the escape and car theft.
Gladney said deputies also found the bright orange inmate’s sweater believed worn by Easley at the time of his arrest.
It is unknown where Easley, an Oktibbeha County resident, was headed at the time he abandoned the vehicle, but Pollan said the suspect had friends in the Maben and Mathiston areas.
Easley also faces a pair of arson charges in Clay County after his arrest in connection with a November 2015 fire at a sale barn located at the West Point stockyards and a June 2015 burning of a residence in west Clay County, Sheriff Eddie Scott confirmed to The Dispatch.
Deputies from Calhoun, Clay and Webster counties and agents from the U.S. Marshal Service are assisting in the manhunt.
Residents who spot Easley should call the CCSD at 662-412-5000 or the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Department at 662-323-2421 instead of trying to approach him.
Reporter Slim Smith contributed to this article.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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