Escapees smashed lock on door

By D.A. Wilkinson

The chief deputy said there have been very few escapes from the jail.

LISBON — Four prisoners broke out of the Columbiana County Jail by smashing a lock on a steel door.

Sheriff David Smith said Tuesday that breaking the lock allowed the prisoners to leave the jail area and access a closet that held a shaft containing wiring and plumbing. The four apparently climbed the shaft to the jail roof and jumped to the ground Monday morning.

The men were apprehended about 1:30 p.m. Monday in Bellevue, Pa.

Just what was used to break the lock and why it was in the jail is under investigation, Smith said,

Allen Haueter, Smith’s chief deputy, said it was the first major escape at the jail since it opened about 11 years ago.

The jail, west of Lisbon, is owned by the county and houses the sheriff’s and coroner’s offices. The facility, however, is run by CiviGenics Inc. of Milford, Mass., which operates some 11 jails in Texas and Ohio.

Peter Argeropulos, the chief operating officer for CiviGenics, came to Lisbon late Monday to investigate.

The sheriff’s office and CiviGenics plan to issue reports on what happened.

Argeropulos said a team from the company had toured the jail.

“The lock was compromised,” he said. How that was done isn’t clear.

Argeropulos said the prisoner head count was apparently flawed at 10:45 p.m. Sunday, when jailers make head counts, rounds and check areas such as showers.

He said the company may have to revise its counting procedures.

Smith said his detective, Steve Walker, was interviewing the four escapees and a girlfriend of one of them Tuesday in the Allegheny County Jail.

Smith said when they will be returned to the county depends on whether they fight or waive extradition.

The escapees’ names and charges are:

UJason Heffner, 28, of Salineville, receiving stolen property, burglary and nonsupport.

UJohn Hamilton, 21, of Salem, identity theft, misuse of a credit card and receiving stolen property.

UMark Foden, 38, of East Liverpool, theft and forgery.

UWilliam Merrit, 40, of East Liverpool, felonious assault and receiving stolen property.

Heffner’s girlfriend is expected to be charged with complicity to escape, authorities said.

When asked why they escaped, Haueter said, “Day after day, they sit and they watch and they think. They have time on their hands.”

The car they were caught in was taken from a home about a half- mile from the jail, Haueter said.

Before Monday’s escape, the last person to break out of jail was Larry Williams, 35, of Lisbon, who in May used a board supporting an air conditioner to break a window in the jail’s minimum-security wing. He has pleaded guilty to the escape charge.

Williams’ girlfriend, Candy Kibler, 38, of Lisbon, is awaiting trial on a charge of obstruction of justice in that escape. They were fleeing through Pennsylvania in a stolen vehicle and crashed into a building while being chased by police.

Before that, two trusties serving time for minor charges rode away on a tractor when they were cutting the grass at the jail in July 2006.

They were captured a short time later. Haueter said those were the only escapes he could recall.

An investigation into drugs’ being smuggled into the jail continues. Smith said the problem was small.

Several guards and individuals have been prosecuted for trying to smuggle in drugs.

wilkinson@vindy.com