CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A correctional officer at the Southcentral Regional Jail in Charleston was informed of a possible escape as early as Wednesday evening, a Charleston attorney has told several media outlets.
Kevin Davis said he got a call from his client, an inmate at the jail, Wednesday morning requesting a meeting over what the inmate described as “a life and death situation.”
Davis, who spoke with both WCHS-TV and WSAZ-TV, said he got to the jail at around 4 p.m. and his client told him that an inmate named Todd had gotten some civilian clothes and escaped.
Todd Boyes, 43, of Caldwell, Ohio, walked out of the jail at at around 5:50 a.m. Wednesday. His wasn’t noted as missing until a head count at 7 p.m. Thursday. State police weren’t alerted until around 12:40 a.m. Friday, some 43 hours after Boyes left the jail.
Davis said once his client told him what happened he wrote the information down and gave it to a correctional officer who Davis said read it and then put the note in his pocket.
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The state Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety is conducting an internal investigation. DMAPS said there were five head counts between the time Boyes walked out and the 7 p.m. Thursday head count where he was reported missing.
In a statement DMAPS said it considered the incident “to be a grave and unacceptable breach of their core duty to protect their fellow West Virginians. We intend to address the episode and the results of the ongoing investigation with the utmost seriousness,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, Boyes remained on the loose Saturday morning. State police said Friday evening they had received no tips concerning his whereabouts.
Boyes was scheduled to be sentenced Friday in connection with a police pursuit from February where he allegedly tried to run over a Charleston police officer. He suffered an injury to his hand after Charleston police shot him.
Boyes’ court-appointed attorney Ed Rebrook told reporters Friday he met with his client earlier in the week about his upcoming sentencing and he made no indications of his plans. Rebrook says Boyes read the presentencing report and gave it his approval.
DMAPS Cabinet Secretary Jeff Sandy has been outspoken in this first 10 months on the job about the need for additional correctional officers and better pay for what he has called an overworked staff.