WADESBORO, N.C. — Authorities have found a prison inmate accused of walking off a job site in Wadesboro late Wednesday morning. According to an update from the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction, a prison emergency response team captured Stephon J. Easterling in another town about eight hours after his disappearance.
Those crews picked him up around 6:30 p.m. on Leak Street in Rockingham, N.C., which is about 20 miles from Wadesboro. The department said Easterling will go to a higher-custody prison and face escape charges.
The Anson County Sheriff's Office said Easterling was working at an assignment away from the jail around 10:20 a.m. and did not return from a break. Witnesses said he was spotted getting into a white Nissan Rogue that drove off.
Easterling, originally from Richmond County, is a minimum-custody offender serving a four-year sentence for a handful of charges. Before the alleged escape, he was set to be released in February 2024.
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